Alarming cell phone footage has emerged of an Ohio high school student seen waited in a classroom, buoying himself up in readiness to physically attack a fell classmate. The following vicious assault captured on the phone clearly shows the 15-year-old being savagely beaten. "I covered myself and shielded my body, and he kept hitting," the young gay student told the local TV news programme, WSYX adding "Nobody did anything."
To me that is perhaps more worrying that the attack itself, that nobody seems to be at all bothered that a gay student is being beaten in an obviously planned attack. Not a single person even raised a voice in opposition to hail of punches unleashed by the attacker. The other students just watch as the attacker waited for his victim to arrive in the classroom. Then shoved his prey to the ground, and repeatedly punched him in the face.
"The boy stood there and waited and waited on him," the victims mother tells the TV news crew, adding "As soon as he walked in the door, the boy hits. [My son] walks away — 'What did I do? Why are they doing this?' and keeps walking away. He turns around and tries to defend himself and then he tries to get away and the boy grabs him and beats the living crap out of him."
The Ross County Sheriff's office has confirmed it is investigating the attack that took place on 17th October, but so far has not made any arrests. James Osborne the school principal said the attack was "unfortunate" but denied there was a problem of homophobic bullying at the school. "We have never had an incident of this nature. "I am not saying we have never had any reports of bullying — we have just as much as any school. But we've never had anything of this magnitude." Said the 550 pupil school principal.The recording of the attack has been posted on Facebook and YouTube.
It’s believed the student who unleashed the unprovoked and unreserved volley of punches has received a three day suspension! Just three days, are you serious Mr Osborne? Is that all a premeditated and vicious attack on someone, just because of their sexuality is worth?
GLSEN research says that one in four LGBT students have experienced some form of assault in Ohio each year. Their 2009 National School Climate Survey revealed the shocking truth almost 61 percent of LGBT students in Ohio experience some form of harassment or are threatened by their peers via text messages, emails or postings on social networking sites. Research also shows that gay students were "punched, kicked or injured with a weapon" once or more that year simply because of their sexual orientation.
“There seems to be a lack of action regarding homophobic bullying on a nationwide scale, some states and school boards adopt a ‘ostrich’ style attitude towards it, claiming it either doesn’t exist or is so mild that it’s not worth bothering about” university researcher and behavioural academic Dean Canton told me. “A lot of this is because or the local area or the majority of the school board members also harbour homophobic thoughts and sentiments or believe their religious beliefs outweigh the equality and freedom of oppression or discrimination gay and lesbian students seek. Other areas have a more liberal and positive stance on the matter and allow and assist coalitions with the gay and lesbian school population with gay/straight alliances, or safe places and include sexual orientation in their anti-bullying policies”
Another problem seems to be the inability of many to step in when their hear instances of ant-gay remarks or verbal bullying, thereby encouraging a climate of acceptance. Canton explains “If you fail to halt verbal abuse in it’s isolation, it’s more likely to become widespread, breading a general consensus that it’s acceptable, a group or school population may often see this as official sanctioning of such behaviours or language. The step up to physical violence is then alarmingly short.
Read more: http://technorati.com/lifestyle/article/ohio-gay-teen-beaten-in-class/page-2/#ixzz1cI8wguuS
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