TX - Gay student attacked with metal pipe, school administrators did nothing

A Langham Creek High School freshman who said he's the victim of a hate crime is speaking out.

Jayron Martin said he begged two principals at his school and his bus driver for help before he was hit repeatedly with a metal pipe.

[snip]

According to the 16-year-old, the attack took place off campus. He said a fellow student beat him after school while eight others stood around and watched. Martin believes he was beaten because he’s gay.

“All they kept saying was, ‘We going to get you. We going to fight you,’ and all that and so when they started coming after me they were like, ‘You’re not going to be gay anymore.’ They just kept hitting me,” he said.

Hours before the incident, Martin said a friend told him a group was planning to attack him. The teen said he talked with two administrators about his concerns. The administrators took a written statement from him, said Martin.

“I sat down in the cafeteria and I started writing the letter and so then I handed it to them and they said, ‘We are going to call y’all down and stuff like that,’” he said.

Martin said he was never called to the office, and the administrator didn’t call his mother.

At the end of the school day, Martin said he rode the bus home. The group threatening Martin was riding the same bus. Martin said he told his bus driver, but nothing happened. The teen said the group ran after him as he got off the bus.

More at link: http://www.khou.com/home/Student-al...inistrators-did-nothing-to-help-70430507.html

:furious: Now the school board is looking into it.

Poor kid. Like his Mother said, he did was he was suppose to do but the adults didn't. They need to be held accountable in some way.

I hope the little **** who did this gets some of what he likes to dish out, along with his buddies who stood around and watched.

:furious: :furious: :furious:
Everyone on that school board that knew need to be beaten up and then lose their job.

Poor young man asked for help it just brakes my heart.

CarrieBean said:

:furious: Now the school board is looking into it.

Poor kid. Like his Mother said, he did was he was suppose to do but the adults didn't. They need to be held accountable in some way.

I hope the little **** who did this gets some of what he likes to dish out, along with his buddies who stood around and watched.

Click to expand...

BBM his buddies will have night mare for life, and they are NO buddies. :banghead:
The perps should get beat to a pulp, and thrown in jail for more beatings.

This is the type of thing that could have mushroomed until someone died.

If they beat him once, knew he told, and nothing came of it, what would have been there to stop them from attacking him and possibly killing him in the future? It's a good thing that they have a live victim forcing them to look at the case now, instead of a dead victim's family.
I admire his strength.

It's events like this that cause people to grow up to be advocates and activists!! What a strong boy. I'm very impressed that he won't be silenced. My prayers are with Jayron. He's a survivor. Maybe his speaking out will shine a light on ugliness in that community.

Looking into it? It'll be suspension for them barbarians and that's it.

Bless Jayron. I'm glad this kid is speaking out.

<snip>

HOUSTON -- Family and friends of a gay student attended a silent protest Monday morning in hopes of bringing changes to school rules regarding bullying of gay and lesbian students, KPRC Local 2 reported.

.....

"We have approached the board in the past and they've always said that the current guidelines protect everyone. Well, we want to see that put into action in this instance. Let's protect everybody, including these gay students," LaKenya Martin said.

......

Martin said she has been contacted by other parents and teachers saying that this is not the first time a gay student was bullied at the school.



more here

http://www.click2houston.com/news/21763287/detail.html

Filly, you're probably right -- if they even get suspended.

In a way I'm surprised that the Cypress-Fairbanks ISD lets this go on...that school district, which is in Harris County but not in Houston, is one of the wealthier school districts in the state....the Cy-Fair football stadium rivals that of big colleges.

(And it wouldn't surprise me at all tho if the kid who beat Jayron was a 'jock'.)

One would think CFISD would be trying to avoid lawsuits at all costs.....sounds like it's time parents stopped talking & started hiring attorneys.

Every school I went to was just like this. Admins did nothing to help with bully situations. Which is exactly what this was. Hatebullying. I've been a victim of bullying a few times which is why it really burns me up to know that with all of the safety precautions, new rules and regulations, that STILL nobody will address situations where students are in fear day after day. My daughter was once bullied as well. I went to the school during recess claiming to just want to visit my daughter. On the playground, we sought out her bully, and I pointed directly at her, and told her to never touch my daughter again, or I would see her and her parents in court. It worked... but, I had to do that because I knew Admins would never help my child, it was purely up to me to get the situation under control.

If what this child and his family are saying is proven true, someone (or multiple someones) MUST be fired. Potentially, charges should be brought against those who were in authority and did nothing.

"All it takes for evil to triumph in the world is for good men to do nothing."

I wonder if this story is why several of my students asked if I supported the local gay/lesbian alliance group.:waitasec:

All I can say is they better be real glad I am not his mother. I was bullied in school and honestly I think it changed me because I do NOT take crap from anyone now. The girl who bullied me became a friend of mine later in life and is now deceased. This bullying has got to stop. Its what is causing kids to commit suicide and the reason they drop out and lord knows what else. I feel so sorry for this boy because he wanted help and got nothing. I just dont see how you can sit around watch something like that and do nothing to help.

It's so sad that in 2009 ANYONE would be beaten for being gay. A lead pipe?! I agree with Not_My_Kids. It's lucky this kid wasn't killed. I'm continually amazed by the cruelty teens show to other teens who are different from them. We need to teach our children to love one another because of their differences.

Hoping the violent teens are expelled and have criminal charges pressed against them. The adults in this situation failed Jayron entirely; they should be ashamed of themselves.

Mia said:

It's so sad that in 2009 ANYONE would be beaten for being gay. A lead pipe?! I agree with Not_My_Kids. It's lucky this kid wasn't killed. I'm continually amazed by the cruelty teens show to other teens who are different from them. We need to teach our children to love one another because of their differences.

Hoping the violent teens are expelled and have criminal charges pressed against them. The adults in this situation failed Jayron entirely; they should be ashamed of themselves.

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BBM. I agree. It is very sad. But unfortunately, these kinds of crimes are increasing recently. Not decreasing, as would be expected.


FBI Reports 11 Percent Increase in Victims of Hate Crimes Based on Sexual Orientation in 2008

Report shows rise in lesbian and gay hate crimes for third year in a row.

http://www.hrc.org/13826.htm

A great article about Larry King, the 14 year old murder victim of a hate crime in California. Just so we remember that it stills happens. We've all got a lot of work to do.

"Young, Gay and Murdered"

"Kids are coming out younger, but are schools ready to handle the complex issues of identity and sexuality? For Larry King, the question had tragic implications."

http://www.newsweek.com/id/147790

R.I.P. Larry. That was a horribly sad story.

In August of this year, 11 year old Jaheem Herrera hung himself after relentless anti-gay bullying at his ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. After he died, his friend said, "&#8217;He is tired of telling the teachers and the staff, and they never do anything about the problems. So, the only way out is by killing himself.&#8217;"

And last year, Carl Hoover, also age 11, also hung himself after enduring anti-gay taunts at school. His mom attempted every week to get the school&#8217;s administration to intervene. Yet again, nothing was done.

http://www.edgeboston.com/index.php?ch=news&sc=&sc2=news&sc3=&id=90214

It's not just the physical bullys we need to be watching out for. It's the kids who say "you're so gay" or "you're such a *advertiser censored*", that can be just as harmful. And it's not only anti-gay bullying. It's bullying against ANY child for ANY reason.

Just a reminder here to parents (actually everyone). Call a person on every SINGLE time they say,

"That's so gay."
"That was a retarded thing to do."
"Don't be a spaz."
You're so lame"
What are you, blind or deaf?"

These phrases are part of our lexicon and must be removed. They hurt and they are cruel. In each of those phrases the "word" denotes something bad or stupid. Our children who are gay, cognitively delayed, have cerebral palsy or a tremor, or who are vision/hearing impaired should NOT have to put up with the trash on a daily basis.

Kids will usually respond by saying they didn't mean any harm or that everyone uses that word. Don't accept it. Teachable moment. They'll deflect but they will think about it a little more. Rinse and repeat.

Because our kids came in different colors and with multiple abilities, we never had too much problem with this. I'm actually quite proud of my kids' choice of labels and they sometimes crack me up by going overboard in being PC (like their Mom, of course).

But, man, when I started to use a cane and then a wheelchair and then had seizures everyday and slurred my speech, did I get to see the other side of this problem. I've got healthy self esteem and lived a previous healthy life. I think it really brought it all home to me. People saying these things have no earthly idea how hard I try to do even the simplest things and to look and act as much as normal. They have no idea how humiliating it can be when your body does not behave. And to equate a teen's sexual orientation with the word "bad"--don't get me started. As if kids need any further grief.

If I'm out and I hear a person say one of these things, I usually smile and quietly whisper that that comment just "really hurt my feelings" and let it go. Every teen I've done that to, turns four shades of red and apologizes. Sometimes, they just need reminders to be kind.

TX should take a lesson from this California school

<snip>

ALAMEDA, Calif. (AP) - Alameda school officials are expected to approve this week new anti-bullying lessons for elementary school students.

....

The proposed book list could come before the board in February, with teacher guides for the books to be determined during the spring. The expanded lessons come after school officials in May approved instructions meant to address anti-gay bullying issues.

more here

http://www.ktvl.com/articles/school-1193021-bullying-alameda.html

The hands-down best resource in the world for teachers and parents (and everybody else too) is this site:

http://www.tolerance.org/

This is the Teaching Tolerance website for the Southern Poverty Law Center. They've produced a magazine and curriculum for at least 15 years or so. Many of their articles are now available on the internet and they have a gold mine of them. Any "issue", any age group...they've got some answers.

Please bookmark this. When you are looking for the correct words to use in teaching a child or a teen a life lesson, this is the place to go. They "wrote the book" on anti-bullying!!

Unfortunately, it's not always just the students. I work in a high school. Not only are gay jokes tolerated by many teachers, they are often made by the teachers themselves. I think anyone working with kids or teens should be forced to take a tolerance class. (Again, not just for homosexuality, but for everything.) After all, if the students hear these things from the teachers, why wouldn't they say them too?

Texas is a weird place to live. Maybe it depends on which town and how much money you have, but I've seen kids around my town go to the project school just for getting into an arm slapping fight with each other and a 7 year old told he could be arrested for whacking his little friend on the rear while in line. On the other hand, my grandson just came back to this town and says that his school is "horrifying" in fourth grade with the cussing and fighting going there. Apparently nothing is being done. One extreme to the other. I guess the school is passing the buck as usual with this beaten kid, hopefully the law will take over and press charges. That's another big if around here.