Bullied Gay Student Sues Indianapolis Schools
Student Dynasty Young says he was called names, spat upon, and subjected to other abuse, then was expelled for defending himself.
BY Trudy Ring
August 31 2012 5:35 PM ET
http://www.advocate.com/society/education/2012/08/31/bullied-gay-student-sues-indianapolis-schools (http://www.advocate.com/society/education/2012/08/31/bullied-gay-student-sues-indianapolis-schools)
A gay student who alleges he suffered repeated harassment in an Indianapolis high school is suing the city's public school system, saying administrators failed to protect him from abuse.
Dynasty Young, now 17, "was subjected to relentless, severe harassment and abuse by other students because he was perceived as gay and because his clothing, behavior, and demeanor did not fit stereotypical notions of masculinity" during the 2011-2012 school year at Arsenal Technical High School, says the complaint, filed today in U.S. District Court in Indiana. Young and his mother, Chelisa Grimes, also a plaintiff in the suit, are represented by the National Center for Lesbian Rights and two law firms, Kirkland & Ellis and Waples & Hanger.
Young enrolled in Arsenal Tech at the beginning of that academic year as a junior, having relocated from Arizona, where he had enjoyed going to school and encountered few problems because of his gender nonconformity, and those few problems were dealt with swiftly. However, almost immediately upon entering the Indianapolis school, he was subjected to abuse that included being called a "->-bleeped-<-," told he looked "like a girl," being spit upon, and being blocked from walking through hallways, according to the suit.
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NCLR Files Federal Lawsuit Against Indianapolis Public Schools For Failing to Protect Gay Student
http://www.nclrights.org/site/PageNavigator/Press_releases_2012/August%202012/press_2012_NCLR_Lawsuit_IPS_083112.html (http://www.nclrights.org/site/PageNavigator/Press_releases_2012/August%202012/press_2012_NCLR_Lawsuit_IPS_083112.html)
(Indianapolis, IN, August 31, 2012)—Today, the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) and the law firms of Kirkland & Ellis LLP and Waples & Hanger filed a federal lawsuit challenging Indianapolis Public Schools' (IPS) discriminatory treatment and failure to protect an openly gay former student who faced severe and relentless harassment at Arsenal Technical High School (Tech) throughout the 2011-2012 school year. Rather than address the constant harassment and abuse suffered by 17-year-old Dynasty Young, school administrators blamed the harassment on Young's gender nonconforming clothes and "flamboyant" behavior. Ultimately, IPS expelled Dynasty instead of taking effective measures to protect him from the harassment.