A year-and-a-half after bullies drove gay 13-year-old Asher Brown to commit suicide, KRIV 26 in Houston reports, his parents, Amy and David Troug, are being bullied by members of their Cypress, TX, community for trying to push for laws to help kids like Asher.
Amy and David Troung tell reporters that they’ve been subject to numerous instances of harassment, intimidation and vandalism since suing Cypress Fairbanks School District and lobbying for new anti-bulling measures.
“People just driving by slowly and parking and staring at us. When they do speak to us they scream, ‘Bully, bully, bully!’ Kids would start chanting that. Adults would just give us dirty glares. They scream by screaming, ‘Yee ha’!” said David who has reported the incidents to Harris County Precinct 4 Constables.
Most recently, a hefty bag of bottles was smashed at high speed against the Troung’s, splattering glass throughout the yard.
“Broken glass was everywhere on our lawn, almost to our neighbor’s lawn. We had to spend an hour picking through it by hand,” said David.
Since their son’s death, the Troungs have endured more than a dozen separate incidents of vandalism and hateful harassment.
“It’s not a coincidence,” said Amy Troung.
Of course it’s not. How do you think Asher’s classmates learned how to be bullies?
Source KRIV
How about we take this to the next level?
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Mike UK
stick with it folks, don’t let the bastards get to you, stick with your plans. As for the police reports supposedly going missing, very convenient!!!!
Billysees
This is hard to believe. I wonder why these things happen and who would do them.
Phantom
There will be no justice for the victim and the family. I know because I live 15 minutes away from Cypress, Texas. Growing up in Texas all my life, if you are gay, you will get bullied, stomped on, or even get killed. Rarely get any respect.
Bob
It’s Texas…can you expect anything less? Damn Rednecks…(and I don’t mean everyone in Texas, before people start writing)…
Cam
Look at how far the folks next door in Mississippi went just to keep a lesbian from going to their prom with her girlfriend. They defied a court order and ended up getting smashed twice in court.
This is Texas being Texas, nothing upsets them more than having a spotlight put on their bigotry.
Kamuriie
Love and support to your family! People have no shame whatsoever.
Oh Dear (John From England)
@Billysees:
You’re very lucky you live in such a nice place and world. When you decide to tackle the real world, either through reading about efforts on community cohesion in deprived areas OR you speak to someone who doesn’t live in a nice place or better still, you take those heavy blinkers away and look at your own right wing opposition in govt’s behavior, it would ge great to chat with a lucid adult.
This is hardly a surprise. Typical humanity. You put up and you shut up. As if these assholes feel even the slightest bit of guilt as they sit their praising their made up God-this is definitely not the way Jesus would’ve behaved, the Amercians have created their own version of Christianity which has a Jew with pale skin and blue eyes lol-and cleaning their guns waiting to accidentlt hit an immigrant.
the crustybastard
Texas really ought to rename itself Ization.
Because that’s what remains, having taken the civil out of civilization.
Scott Rose
@Billysees: Don’t you understand that anti-gay bullies by definition are malicious, psychopathic monsters who take pleasure from inflicting suffering on their victims?
Ray
Give us the name and car tags of the bullies. Make them public knowledge. Let us trace their political affiliation and what cults they belong to. Let them live in fear.
Ray
Give us the names and car tags of the bullies. Make them public knowledge. Let us trace their political affiliation and what cults they belong to. Let them live in fear.
Chuck
The south should just secede from the Union again, and get them out of our country.
Oh, ok.
Wait, I’m confused. I thought it was “the blacks” spreading homophobia. Does this mean there are white people who are homophobic and being violent?
What?? That can’t be. I mean every argument about homophobia I’ve seen since Obama got elected about about how black people are responsible for homophobia in the nation.
So confused right now.
Dallas David
Rural Texas is chuck-full of peabrains.
Hyhybt
@Oh, ok.: If you truly believe what you just said, you haven’t been paying attention.
Mike UK
@Hyhybt: ignore him, he walks with a stoop because of the size of the chip on his shoulder, that is if he is indeed black and not just a shit stirrer!
Rachelle
This is next to Houston. Houston is one of the largest cities in the U.S. It has a population of about three million people. Most of the people who settle either in Houston or the small cities surrounding it are from all across the country because Houston is a great place to run a business. This means almost everyone in this area is from another state. So how dare you complain about Texas, and further more Houston, being the center of homophobia. The North, East, and West has just as much claim to that right as the South. Homophobia is found in individuals not regions or states.
Rachelle
This is next to Houston. Houston is one of the largest cities in the U.S. It has a population of about three million people. Most of the people who settle either in Houston or the small cities surrounding it are from all across the country because Houston is a great place to run a business. This means almost everyone in this area is from another state. So how dare you complain about Texas, and further more Houston, being the center of homophobia. The North, East, and West has just as much claim to that right as the South. Homophobia is found in individuals not in regions or states.
Isaac C
@Rachelle: Houston is a hillbilly backwater. Quit trying to sell your crap city.
Tracey
@Isaac C: That comment just shows how utterly closed minded and prejudiced you are. Believe it or not, I’m ALSO from the Cypress area. My best friend is bi, I’ve got two really close gay friends, and every kid I befriended never had a homophobic thing to say. If you look around and actually talk to people, you’ll find that they each have their own opinions and beliefs. It’s not a hive-mind. Nowhere actually has a hive-mind.
Also “Houston is a hillbilly backwater.” is not a complete sentence. “[H]illbilly” and “backwater” are adjectives. You might have wanted to add “city” after them. That might have clarified some things.
Rachelle
@Isaac C: Oh, of course. A city with a population of near three million people, most of whom are not from Texas, is obviously a backwater city. If a large, diverse population is a qualification for a ‘backwater city’ you may also with to add New York and Los Angeles to your list.
Mike UK
@Tracey: @Rachelle: ignore him, he gets a kick out of stirring the shit!
Rachelle
@Isaac C: Oh, of course. A city with a population of near three million people, most of whom are not from Texas, is obviously a backwater city. If a large, diverse population is a qualification for a ‘backwater city’ you may also with to add New York and Los Angeles to your list. Also, I am not defending this area because I am from there (I am from California), I am trying to point out that every area of the country has it’s problems and those problems are caused by the individuals not by the place they chose to live in.
Isaac C
@Tracey: See definition #3, sweetie.
“back·wa·ter
— noun
1. a body of stagnant water connected to a river
2. water held or driven back, as by a dam, flood, or tide
3. an isolated, backward, or intellectually stagnant place or condition”
Sucks to be you, doesn’t it? But you’re from Texas, so I’d expect you to not know the difference between adjectives and nouns.
@Rachelle: It’s a huge, large backwater. Get over it. It doesn’t even belong in the same sentence as NYC and L.A. Don’t insult those cities.
Kev C
Install a camera. Write down license plates numbers. Find out who is doing it. Also, owning a gun should be easy in TX.
Hyhybt
@Kev C: Keep in mind exactly how much good turning over video evidence and license plate numbers to a police force that’s managed to lose all the documentation of every complaint you’ve already made… and how likely things are to go well for you in the hands of such a force if you take action yourself, even in self-defense.
Tracey
@Isaac C: I honestly can’t tell you how amused I am by you. Especially since that’s your ONLY reply to my entire argument. OH NOOOO~ You bested a teenager at grammar. You’re so important and special.
(By the way, you’re just proving my point more and more)
Kev C
@Hyhybt: It has a deterent effect. Trust me, it works. Criminals, punks, bullies hate being identified.
Michael
What a shame! I will be thinking of the Troug family.
Before ill-advised comments are thrown around, let’s not forget Houston has a gay mayor. She is the first openly gay mayor of a major US city. Seems to argue against being Houston being backwater. The problem here lies in individuals– we should not stereotype.
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1947648,00.html
Tracey
@Michael: Yay! Thank you! I’m tired of prejudice, ignorance, and hate.
Rachelle
@Isaac C:
Dickhead:
a person who is an idiot and shows it all too well
I only wish I had the privilege of creating this definition. It seems as if it was made for you. You have no idea what you are talking about and honestly, your opinion does not matter. It is the fourth largest city in the country for a reason.
Pauley
Why are people replying to the obvious troll in here?
I mean Issac is only 12 years old and quite possibly “missing some parts” not to mention the years of inbreeding that lead to what I can only imagine the poor kid looks like today. It is not nice to insult people like this who can not properly defend themselves.
Rachelle
@Michael: Thank you so much for pointing that out.
Nym
Buy & carry guns.
Mike
The family’s last name is spelled “Truong.” Asher Brown’s stepfather is of Vietnamese descent. Now that’s not Queerty’s fault for spelling it wrong, as the Fox affiliate did the same thing.
Storm
Get a camera, a flip-cam or your iphone cam, and video this shit. Every car that passes, every person that screams at you, every bottle that flies into your yard, every bit of vandalism – then post it on youtube, facebook, and every place you can. Record every car, every license plate, every face. Include descriptions of each incident with the words “Cypress, Texas” included so that search engines will pick them up. Explain each time how the police keep losing the evidence.
Maybe the police and city council will start paying attention then.
Hyhybt
@Storm: Each incident would be over too quickly to get a camera out. You’d pretty much have to set it up in advance and recording all the time… and hope you’re lucky enough to have placed it where it gets a close enough view. (Angles that would show an incident well would tend not to catch license plates, whereas a camera positioned to catch the plates of passing cars would only by good luck also catch the damage. And that’s if parking and such in the area even leaves a good place to put a camera to catch plates.)
RVH
@Oh, ok.: What the hell are you talking about? Most of the mass-spreaders of homophobia have been rich white people. Just because there are a few racists who blame all homophobia on black people doesn’t mean we all do. Stop putting us all in the same boat.
Sebizzar
Wow. Just wow. Their son was bullied, & committed suicide because of it. And now they’re going to bully the victim’s parents!? Wtf is wrong with these people? What is wrong with this WORLD -_-‘
Cypress Resident
I am so sorry this is happening. My kids go to the elementary next door, and will go to the Jr High in a few years. The anti- bullying campaigns they’ve started have worked really well. My boys are 6 and 8 and now know what bullying is, what to do about it, how awful it is, and how much trouble kids will get into if they try it. My boys know they can and should tell the teacher and me. They weren’t aware of all this before Asher. Every kid in the school is now. And every bully is afraid of being told on now too. Im sure its different in Jr High. In Elementary they don’t even understand what Gay means yet but they will. And I can guarantee they will continue to treat people kindly no matter what they believe or like or dislike. Im sorry that the bad eggs in Asher’s generation have been such a disappointment. And Im sorry for the good kids in that generation that have to cope with these morons and their moron parents. Thank you for helping the next generation. The younger kids have had it drilled into them now because of these peoples efforts.
It's Texas, What Do You Expect?
Inbred, redneck, welfare-leeching trash live there.
And yeah, if you’re oh-so-“offended” by my accurate characterization of that shithole of a cesspool, then prove me wrong by fixing its attitudes rather than relying on politically correct rhetoric. Texas is renowned as a racist, backwater shithole outside of its major cities because it IS.
FunMe
They need a CAMERA to film what goes on in front of their house. They should make copies and send to national organizations to confirm the incident and also any violation by the authorities hiding evidence.
dorthyinwonder
It’s amazing how insulated people can be. Not just kids…not just Texans. Comment No. 41 (It’s Texas, What Do You Expect?) is a perfect example. I would be highly surprised if you’ve even -been- to a small town in Texas. I won’t say Texas is perfect, but no state is. We may have that reputation, but it doesn’t mean that it’s an accurate representation of small towns in Texas. The Transitive Property of Equality does not apply here. If I were to use that argument against you, I could claim that you’re generalizing certain misconceptions about small Texas towns, which you are. Along that line, your own claim means that as small Texas towns are racist, they tend to generalize certain misconceptions about any race of people. Well, by your argument, and applying the Transitive Property of Equality (which doesn’t seem to promote equality in this sense) as you initially did, then that would make you a small Texas town, wouldn’t it? Here, let me put it in mathematical terms: You = generalizing certain misconceptions; small Texas towns = generalizing certain misconceptions…so you = as small-minded as one of the small Texas towns in your argument! Mathematically proven!
To be honest, how one approaches and reacts to these situations is not a matter of -where- you live or grew up. It’s a matter of -how- you grew up. I was verbally bullied throughout school because of my weight. Not race, not sexuality…my weight. When you don’t know what bullying is, you don’t know that it’s anything more than teasing…you don’t know that it’s wrong. I have never looked at my friends differently because of their sexuality or their race. It’s your actions, behavior, speech that I pay attention to.
A lot of people don’t look beyond what’s right in front of them, so they don’t know what possibilities there are. It’s the sad truth of the world.
As for the parents in the article, please don’t let them deter you from the anti-bullying cause. In fact, I’m sure the future would greatly appreciate if you took it to a larger scale. A lot of schools have “zero tolerance”, but that doesn’t necessarily apply to non-physical bullying. Additionally, there is a lot of bullying that goes on outside school. There are a LOT of people that want to help, but are lost as to what to do and where to go. What I would suggest would be, if possible, to either obtain copies of all your police reports to have a physical evidence of it or keep a record of all the report numbers. Also request written confirmation that the reports you filed are “lost”. The road ahead of you might be bumpy, especially if you turn your attention to the police, as well. If you are truly in it for the long haul, I’d suggest figuring out what’s going on with your police.
CBRad
@dorthyinwonder: Gay ghetto denizens HAVE to believe that about Texas, though. It’s one of the Rules.
Mark
Not surprised to hear this story is in TEXAS. Everything is bigger in TEXAS. Including bigotry.
Mimi
@Oh Dear (John From England): @Oh Dear (John From England): Your assumption about all Americans is ignorant.
mr rivera
@Billysees: this system is called gang stalking and it includes some FBI and other law enforcement who help target people. I live in Florida and have been a victim of this type of harrasment for 4 years.