Students protest anti-gay bullying in middle school

Friday, April 25, 2008

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A student protests anti-gay bullying outside of her middle school.

PINELLAS PARK (Bay News 9) -- About a dozen students gathered outside of Pinellas Park Middle School Friday to protest the bullying and harassment of gay students.

The students said they were protesting to bring awareness to a 15-year-old student they said was beaten up this week because he was gay. They held signs that read "Stop Discrimination" and "Hate is easy - love takes courage."

The protest took place during the National Day of Silence, which, according to the organization's Web site, "brings attention to anti-LGBT name-calling, bullying and harassment in schools."

The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office confirms that a 15-year-old student was beat up Monday by four other students who used sexual slurs against him, and that they are calling it a hate crime.

Student Ashley Stroud said the four students told the victim to "go back to Brokeback Mountain" as they pushed him

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"[The victim] turned around and asked them to stop," she said. "The kid pushed him again, and then they just started fighting and like, three or four more kids jumped in."

Student Gina Garcia said she talked to the victim after the fight.

"He said that he was fighting for his life and now I guess he's done with it," she said. "He said he doesn't want to live anymore and that's pretty messed up. It makes you want to cry. Because for him, he's only in middle school. It's not even right what they did."

The Sheriff's Office said the four boys, who range in age from 12 to 14, were arrested and charged with felony battery.

Students said the four boys have also been suspended from school for 10 days. The school spokeswoman would not confirm this, saying that disciplinary records are kept private. She did say that the students have been punished in accordance with the school's handbook.

The students who skipped school to protest all day said they hoped to send a strong message to bullies, and to show the victim, who has not returned to school since the attack, that they support him.

"If you're gay, you're gay," Garcia said. "People just need to stop discriminating and hating so much."