It’s not just the gay boys that get bullied.
Sixteen-year old Billy Wolfe has found himself punched, pummeled, kicked and bloodied for no reason other than his peers find him queer. And now, after trying to work with the school and police, Wolfe’s Arkansas-based parents are getting litigious:
This month they sued one of the bullies “and other John Does,” and are considering another lawsuit against the Fayetteville School District. Their lawyer, D. Westbrook Doss Jr., said there was neither glee nor much monetary reward in suing teenagers, but a point had to be made: schoolchildren deserve to feel safe.
They sure do – that and chocolate milk.
[Image By Angel Franco, NY Times]
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Vinman
Straight guys who get picked on really upset me. I’m a 48 year old Gay guy, who passed for straight in high school. My one year younger brother who has always been straight, would get picked on because he was smaller/skinnyer(sp?). Often called fag and such. I was’t always there and alot of times it bothered me because I knew I was. Although I wasn’t picked on the shit he went through made me more closeted even more. High school is hell, especially if you are gay or supected gay.
hells kitchen guy
This is far from uncommon. Probably a goodly percentage of boys and girls picked on because they’re gay, aren’t.
Phil Astin
This is one of the many things that is messed up about society. No kids should EVER be bullied. As a society we should be putting our efforts toward this problem first and foremost. Marriage can wait a little bit longer. It’s irresponsible for schools to allow such bullsh*t. The problem could be solved by smaller class sizes and smaller teacher to student ratios. When I when to private school this problem was almost non-existant because of the smaller school size and it wasn’t allowed under any curcumstances by the teachers or staff. Then when I went to a public school almost ten times the size, the problem was astronomical. WTF!!! (Sorry, it just pisses me off.)
abracadaver
Thank goodness someone is finally getting litigious on this subject. The only thing that makes school boards and apathetic teachers and administrators wake the f*ck up is getting hauled into court.
Alan down in Florida
Someone in the GLBT community should set up a fund to help pay this young man’s legal fees and gay artists should be doing fund raisers as well.
steve
okay i go to Billy’s school and the article in the NY times is competly biased and not accurate…Billy causes all of the fights to happen on himself…for example, he made fun of some kids DEAD mother and of course the kid punched him in the nose..which the kid thinks he rightfully deserved. It’s not because hes gay or any of that and he isnt…he just talks shit to the wrong people and they retaliate.
lololololooll,l
its bad