Today Is #SpiritDay Against Bullying

Hat/tip to Kenneth in the 212

Expelled Bullied Black Gay Teen Sues School District

Darnell Young, his mother Chelisa Grimes, and twin brother Darrell

We have been covering the saga of Darnell "Dynasty" Young, a Black gay teen who was expelled from his Indianapolis area high school after he took a weapon to school after being repeatedly bullied. Recently, Dynasty had his suspension suspended and was reinstated and allowed to attend school again (although not at his original school).

The latest news is that Dynasty has had a federal lawsuit filed on his behalf by the National Center for Lesbian Rights against Indianapolis Pubic Schools for failing to protect Dynasty while he attended school despite repeated pleas by his mother, Chelisa Grimes.

NCLR issued a press release about its lawsuit:

As the 2011-2012 school year progressed, the harassment worsened, and Dynasty fell into depression. He was unable to eat properly, lost a great deal of weight, and dreaded going to school. Increasingly fearful for her son’s safety, Grimes gave her son a self-protection flashlight, a small device that emits a loud noise, a light, and a weak electric charge. On April 16, 2012, six students surrounded Dynasty to attack him. He held the device in the air and activated it. The noise caused the aggressors to leave without assaulting him. But instead of locating the students who had threatened to attack Dynasty, Tech administrators suspended Dynasty for trying to prevent the attack and later expelled him.

In addition to the physical and emotional harm he experienced as a result of the bullying and the discrimination he experienced from IPS administrators who refused to take any meaningful steps to protect him, Dynasty was unable to complete the spring semester of his 11th-grade year at Tech High School, and will need to make up any necessary credits to graduate on time in 2013. He has recently enrolled in Indianapolis Metropolitan High School, a charter school not affiliated with IPS, where he is taking extra classes in an effort to try graduate on schedule.

“All students should be able to get an education without fearing for their physical safety, and they should be able to rely on school administrators to protect them when abuse does occur,” said NCLR Senior Staff Attorney Christopher F. Stoll, one of the attorneys representing Dynasty and his mother. “It is outrageous that school officials who were entrusted with their students’ safety and education blamed Dynasty for the abuse he suffered, and eventually expelled him from school, instead of accepting their responsibility to protect him from harm.”

The lawsuit asserts claims for violations of federal civil rights law and the U.S. Constitution based on IPS’s deliberate indifference to the harassment and abuse Dynasty experienced and its discriminatory treatment of him based on his gender and sexual orientation.  The suit further alleges that IPS punished Dynasty and failed to address the harassment in part due to his failure to comply with Tech officials’ demands that he change his appearance and style of dress, in violation of his rights to freedom of expression and liberty under the First Amendment and the federal Due Process Clause.  The suit also challenges IPS’s failure to consider Dynasty’s appeal of his expulsion as required by its own internal procedures and the Constitution.

“I want to make sure no other student in the Indianapolis Public Schools ever has to go through the kind of abuse that I went through,” said Dynasty. “I am hoping this will get IPS to start treating kids like me with respect and really do something to protect their students.”

We will continue to follow the details of this case at MadProfessah.com and get the word about the prevalence and impact of bullying on LGBT teens around the country.

Hat/tip to LGBT Think Progress.

Anti-Gay Stalker Ordered to Pay $4.5M to Gay Man

Chris Armstrong was the openly gay student body
president of University of Michigan when
he became the target of a deranged cyber bully

Well, this is an interesting development! You may recall a few years ago there was an Assistant Attorney General of Michigan named Andrew Shirvell was discovered to be basically cyber-stalking and bullying the openly gay student body president of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Shirvell made increasingly bizarre appearances in the media defending his right of free speech and repeatedly spouting homophobic and just plain weird statements about Armstrong. Eventually, the Attorney General of Michigan fired the psycho after it was revealed Shirvell had stood outside Armstrong's residence at 1:30am yelling insults.

The gay guy who was harassed is Chris Armstrong and after he graduated he filed a federal lawsuit against Shirvell asking for $25,000 indamages (or an apology). Shirvell rejected the offer. Yesterday, a federal jury ruled that Shirvell should pay $4.5 million dollars for his actions against Armstrong.

Here's how the Detroit Free Press covered the result:

Andrew Shirvell, a 2002 U-M graduate, drew national attention for his blog, which he published in 2010, attacking then-U-M student body president Chris Armstrong.The blog -- the "Chris Armstrong Watch" -- was filled with posts from Shirvell, including ones calling Armstrong, the first openly gay student body president at U-M, "Satan's representative on the student assembly" and a "privileged pervert." 

"It's not just a victory for me, but for so many others," Armstrong said Thursday. "I think of all of the people who are bullied outside of a strong supportive environment like I had at (U-M). I think it's a strong statement about what will be tolerated."Armstrong sued in 2011, alleging Shirvell defamed him, invaded his privacy and stalked him. 

The two fought viciously in court for more than a year before a weeklong trial began last week. The jury got the case late Wednesday and deliberated for most of the day Thursday. 

Armstrong, who graduated in 2011, won on all counts and was awarded $4.5 million, Armstrong's attorney, Deborah Gordon, told the Free Press.

Oh good grief! The guy represented himself in his defense. Hasn't ever heard that a lawyer who represents himself ha s a fool for a client?

Anyway, I hope other homophobic freaks view this ruling as a warning to "check themselves before they wreck themselves!"

Hat/tip to TowleRoad

UPDATE: Suspended Black Gay Teen Reinstated

Darnell "Dynasty" Young is a Black gay youth who says he was bullied at his school in Indianapolis, IN> When he brought a weapon to school to defend himself since the school officials refused to take any action despite multiple pleas and notices from Darnell and his family, he was suspended.

However, now it looks like this sad tale may actually have taken a more positive turn. Darnell has had his expulsion from Indiana schools overturned.

The Indianapolis Star reports:

[Indianapolis Public Schools] spokeswoman Kim Hooper said the district had no comment on the decision to end Young’s expulsion, which would’ve expired in January.

The decision came after Young and his attorneys met with the district one week ago to review his expulsion.

[National Center for Lesbian Rights senior staff attorney Chris] Stoll received a letter announcing that IPS would reinstate Young on Monday.

The letter says the district overturned Young’s expulsion based on letters from Young and his mother, Chelisa Grimes, as well as “character statements regarding Darnell’s conduct since expulsion.

[...]

Young’s expulsion sparked national attention and a local protest outside an IPS School Board meeting in May. The board voted to hire an outside firm to investigate the alleged bullying.

[...]

Young and his family are still critical of the way the district handled the incident.

“I don’t understand why adults would stand back and let any student be threatened,” Young said in a prepared statement after IPS ended his expulsion. “This problem would stop if school officials took action. By doing nothing to stop the harassment, they send the message that it is okay to harass and attack gay students, and nothing will happen if you do.”

Grimes also expressed her continued disappointment with IPS.

“This school district needs to make some real changes to make sure that every student can attend school safely and with dignity,” Grimes said in a statement. “I hope this will be a wake-up call to other parents to find out what is going on at your child’s school and demand that school officials take this issue seriously. If we don’t stand up for our children, no one else will.”

Well, well, well! Sometimes good things can happen!

hat/tip to Wonder Man

Bullied Gay Black Teen Fights Back, May Get Expelled

Darnell "Dynasty" Young (left) with twin brother Darell (right), 17, attend
Arsenal Tech High School in Indianapolis, IN

Argh, this is a very upsetting story! A young, openly gay (and relatively "flamboyant") student is bullied by kids at his new high school constantly, administrators are told about it repeatedly, do nothing, bullying continues, mom gives kid a stun gun to protect himself, and when the bullied kid show it, he is the one expelled for bringing an illegal weapon to school, not the bullies!

The Indianapolis Star-News has more details of the situation:

Indiana law defines bullying as words or actions that are intended "to harass, ridicule, humiliate, intimidate or harm," so students do not have to be physically hurt to claim that they were bullied. 

Indianapolis Public Schools' bullying policy says administrators have to tell students that bullying "will not be tolerated." The policy also says administrators are responsible for investigating "complaints, allegations or rumors of bullying." 

Young and his mother said they told the school about the bullying more than 10 times, but Young said Tech did not formally investigate their complaints except for once when a student who taunted him during class was taken to the dean's office and punished. 

Grimes said she called the school about students following Young home from the bus stop, but school officials said they could not do anything since the students were not on school property. 

When she complained other times, they brought up his sexuality. Larry Yarrell, the Tech principal, said school staff were trying to help Young by suggesting that he "tone down" his accessories.

There's a lot more details in the full newspaper article, I encourage you to read the entire piece. In it, different experts disagree over whether Darnell should be expelled from school or not. It also appears as if the kids who did the bullying are not going to be punished because even though there were a number of witnesses, there is not enough information to identify any of the six kids who surrounded Darnell. It seems like in this day and age of cellphones and digital cameras there could have been some scenario arranged where the bullies were caught doing their illegal actions.

White House Endorses Anti-Bullying Legislation

Yesterday, on the National Day of Silence to recognize the impact of anti-LGBT bullying on school children all over the country, the White House endorsed two federal anti-bullying bills which aim to combat the practice and improve the lives of school-age kids who are bullied due to their sexual orientation or gender identity.

The pending bills the White House endorsed are the Student Non-Discrimination Act (S. 555) and the Safe Schools Improvement Act (S. 506).

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan also released a statement of support:

“Bullying can no longer be seen as a normal rite of passage. As a country, we must all work together to take action against bullying and improve the safety climates of our schools and communities. That's why I support the Student Non-Discrimination Act and the Safe Schools Improvement Act. I would like to thank Sen. Al Franken, Sen. Bob Casey, Rep. Jared Polis and Rep. Linda Sanchez for introducing these bills and for their commitment to putting an end to bullying, discrimination and harassment in our nation's schools. I also want to thank Rep. Danny Davis for his leadership on this issue to help keep every student safe and learning.”

Additionally, the White House screened the documentary Bully for anti-bullying advocates on Friday and launched a website called stopbullying.gov.

Elizabeth Warren: "It Gets Better"

WATCH: Violent Anti-Gay High School Attack Caught On Video

This anti-gay attack happened in Union-Scioto High School in Chilicothe, Ohio, which has no anti-bullying legislation or hate crime law inclusive of sexual orientation or gender identity. The bully was apparently suspended for three days. As, Dan Savage says, "what does it take to get expelled?" For more information about who to contact to make sure this crime gets prosecuted by the authorities contact:

Chief Roger Moore 

28 North Paint Street  

Chillicothe, Ohio 45601 

Phone: (740) 773-1191

WonderMan has an update on his blog that charges are expected to be charged soon, but that the bully claims he has "mental problems" and "zoned out."

Obama Comments on DOMA and LGBT Bullying

President Barack Obama appeared at a public forum for Hispanic media on  Wednesday and answered two questions of interest to LGBT folks.

One question was on bullying:

MR. SIADE:  This question comes from Florida:  Since bullying is increasing in an alarming way in the U.S., what can be done to avoid further discrimination or bullying within various racial groups, particularly for Hispanic kids in school?

     THE PRESIDENT:  I think it's a really important question.  We actually had the first-ever conference on bullying here in the White House -- because for young people it’s hard enough growing up without also then being subject to constant harassment.  And the kind of bullying that we’re seeing now, including using the Internet and new media, can be very oppressive on young people.

     So what we’ve tried to do is to provide information and tools to parents, to schools, to communities to push back and fight against these kinds of trends.  And a lot of the best work has actually been done by young people themselves who start anti-bullying campaigns in their schools, showing how you have to respect everyone, regardless of race, regardless of religion, regardless of sexual orientation.  And when you get a school environment in which that’s not accepted by young people themselves, where they say we’re not going to tolerate that kind of bullying, that usually ends up making the biggest difference, because kids react to their peer group more than sometimes they do adults.

And what we need to do is make sure that we’re providing tools to schools and to young people to help combat against bullying, and it’s something that we'll continue to work on with local communities and local school districts as well.

MR. LERNER:  So you’re going to have a conference on bullying in the White House?

THE PRESIDENT:  We already did.  We had it -- it was probably four or five months ago.  And we brought in non-profit groups, religious leadership, schools, students themselves.  And they have now organized conferences regionally, around the country, so that we can prevent this kind of bullying from taking place.

And another was on DOMA, the so-called Defense of Marriage Act:

MR. LERNER:  Mr. President, on the Defense of Marriage Act, also called DOMA, this comes from Kevin in North Carolina.  He says:  I'm a gay American who fell in love with a foreigner.  As you know, due to DOMA, I'm not permitted to sponsor my foreign-born partner for residency.  And as a result, we are stuck between a rock and an impossible situation.  How do you intend to fix this?  Waiting for DOMA to be repealed or struck down in the courts will potentially take years.  What do binational couples do in the meantime?

     THE PRESIDENT:  Well, we made a decision that was a very significant decision, based on my assessment of the Constitution, that this administration would not defend DOMA in the federal courts.  It's not going to be years before this issue is settled. This is going to be settled fairly soon, because right now we have cases pending in the federal courts.

     Administratively, we can't ignore the law.  DOMA is still on the books.  What we have said is even as we enforce it, we don't support it, we think it's unconstitutional.  The position that my administration has taken I think will have a significant influence on the court as it examines the constitutionality of this law.  And once that law is struck down -- and I don't know what the ruling will be -- then addressing these binational issues could flow from that decision, potentially.

     I can't comment on where the case is going to go.  I can only say what I believe, and that is that DOMA doesn't make sense; it’s unfair; I don't think that it meets the demands of our Constitution.  And in the meantime, if -- I’ve already said that I’m also supportive of Congress repealing DOMA on it’s own and not waiting for the courts.  The likelihood of us being able to get the votes in the House of Representatives for DOMA repeal are very low at this point so, truthfully, the recourse to the courts is probably going to be the best approach.

Any thoughts on how Herman Cain, Mitt Romney, Rick Perry or Michele Bachmann would answer these questions?

WATCH: MA Congressional Delegation "It Gets Better"

Note, it's almost the entire congressional delegation of Massachusetts. Missing is U.S. Senator Scott Brown (R-MA) who surprisingly won a special election in January 2010, thus giving the Republicans a filibuster-sustaining 41 votes in the United States Senate.

To date, not a single Republican elected official has made an It Gets Better video. Instead, the National Republican Senatorial Committee has started verbally attacking Dan Savage, who has made his feelings about Republicans known. Scott Brown explains his absence from the MA congressional delegation IGB video:

"Senator Brown believes all people regardless of sexual orientation should be treated with dignity and respect. He has been a leader in fighting for anti-bullying legislation at the state and federal level. His main focus is creating jobs and getting the economy moving again. In this case, the individual behind the video has made vile and sexually crude comments about Senator Brown. It's reprehensible for Senator Brown's opponents to associate with this person in order to score cheap political points." -- Eric Fehrnstrom, political adviser.

I'd like to hear from the Log Cabin Republicans an explanation for why not a single Republican elected official can not seem to appear in a video whose intention is to help students who are being bullied (probably because they are LGBT or are perceived to be LGBT) survive the experience and reduce teen suicide.

Celebrity Friday: British PM David Cameron Says "It Gets Better"

Psycho Anti-Gay Cyber-Stalker Official Fired By Michigan AG

Homophobic whackadoodle Michigan Assistant Attorney General Andrew Shirvell has finally been fired by Michigan Attorney General for his bizarre cyber-bullying of openly gay University of Michigan student body president Chris Armstrong.

The AnnArbor.com reports:

Cox's investigation into Shirvell showed he:

• Showed up at Armstrong's home three separate times, including once at 1:30 a.m. "That incident is especially telling because it clearly was about harassing Mr. Armstrong, not engaging in free speech," the statement said.

• "Engaged in behavior that, while not perhaps sufficient to charge criminal stalking, was harassing, uninvited and showed a pattern that was in the everyday sense, stalking."

• Harassed Armstrong's friends as they were socializing in Ann Arbor. 

• Called Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office, Armstrong's employer, in an attempt to "slander Armstrong and ultimately attempting to cause Pelosi to fire Armstrong.

• Attempted to "out" Armstrong's friends as homosexual — several of whom aren't gay.

The investigation found Shirvell engaged in his campaign on company time, Cox said. Shirvell called Pelosi's office while at work, during working hours, and sometimes posted online attacks about Armstrong while at work, the statement said.

In addition, Cox's statement said, Shirvell lied to investigating assistant attorneys general on several occasions during his disciplinary hearing.

"The cumulative effects of his use of state resources, harassing conduct that is not protected by the First Amendment, and his lies during the disciplinary conference all demonstrate adequate evidence of conduct unbecoming a state employee," the statement said. "Ultimately, Mr. Shirvell's conduct has brought his termination from state service."

Openly Gay UM Student Prez Talks About Being Cyber-Stalked By Psycho

Remember Carl Walker-Hoover!

One year ago today Carl Walker-Hoover killed himself as a result of intolerable bullying. Since then his mother Sirdeaner Walker has become an advocate for anti-bullying legislation.

In the year since then: Sirdeaner Walker has become a national advocate against bullying, appearing on Oprah, Ellen and AC 360, as well as testifying before Congress. Walker has also championed Massachusetts' proposed anti-bullying legislation. The state House and Senate recently passed anti-bullying bills and it's now in conference committee for final approval. Gov. Deval Patrick is expected to sign that bill later this month and Walker says she's planning to be at his desk when he does it.

You can take action by supporting the federal Safe Schools Improvement Act, H.R. 2262.

hat/tip to Rod 2.0 and Wonder Man.