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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsLawsuit: Mississippi school forced ‘pathetic dyke’ to use the boys’ bathroom
civil rights organization filed a lawsuit on Tuesday after a Mississippi school district refused to change its policies that allegedly resulted in a lesbian student being bullied for months.
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) said on Tuesday that it had met with Mississippis Moss Point School District in March to ask officials to change policies because Destin Holmes had been bullied to the point of attempting suicide.
We are disappointed that the district fails to see the serious harm its deliberate inaction causes its students, SPLC staff attorney Anjali Nair said on Tuesday. District officials who are entrusted with the safety and education of all students not only ignored, dismissed and even blamed victims for the abusive behavior of faculty and other students, they also participated in discriminatory acts.
According to the lawsuit, the anti-LGBT comments started after Holmes enrolled at Magnolia Junior High in 2011. The complaint said that teachers would call her a he/she and she was forced to use the boys restroom. Students regularly referred to her as dyke, lesbo and dyke-ass freak.
After meeting with Holmes father in March 2012, Assistant Principal LaJuna Payton brought the student in for a talk and called her a pathetic fool, and said, I dont want a dyke in this school.
Holmes father later met with the principal again and realized that the schools hostility gave him no choice but to homeschool his daughter.
Were asking that the district to create policies and procedures that will hold the district accountable for responding and investigating reports of harassment. Were also seeking financial relief for Destin and her family for the harm that she suffered, Nair told WLOX.
More and see the video at: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/12/18/lawsuit-mississippi-school-forced-pathetic-dyke-to-use-the-boys-bathroom/
Ed Suspicious
(8,879 posts)age? My heart aches for her.
pacalo
(24,721 posts)TwilightGardener
(46,416 posts)not to this extent): there are teachers and administrators who are only too eager to join in to bullying, because they either can't hide their own dislike for that student or they're still emotionally stuck in high school themselves.
MineralMan
(146,317 posts)to pay any damages awarded by a lawsuit personally. Instead, the school district will end up paying, and the children who attend those schools will suffer from that. The Principal should be the one to bear the cost of her bigotry, I believe. Insofar as the school district is responsible, the members of the school board should bear financial responsibility, as well. Let them pay for their bigotry out of their own pockets.
uponit7771
(90,347 posts)avebury
(10,952 posts)part of the problem so I would not have a problem with the school district being forced to make a huge financial payout.
It makes you wonder if it would be possible to bring RICO charges against the school (Principal/Teachers) and students for working together to deny this student her civil rights through terrorism (they forced her father to home school her for her safety). Why stop at just going after the school? The father should go after everyone involved including the students and their parents. (Just in case the students try to cite an affluenza line of defense).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racketeer_Influenced_and_Corrupt_Organizations_Act
FrodosPet
(5,169 posts)Looks like most of the staff is as well.
Pushing this too hard might not go so well around the country. Perhaps it would be more helpful to reach out and highlight the common struggle shared by African Americans and LGBT individuals?
AlinPA
(15,071 posts)agreed
Nika
(546 posts)... for tolerating and exacerbating the bullyiny she was subjected to. This should never be tolerated.
FrodosPet
(5,169 posts)This is not a school district full of spoiled rich kids. Ethan Couch did NOT go to this school. It is a poor district, with over 69% of the kids eligible for free school lunch.
So the district is sued into destitution. Will the State of Mississippi take over and replace the shortfall, so that these poor children have something of an education?
MadrasT
(7,237 posts)That poor girl. Glad the SPLC is on it and that it seems like her parents are supportive.
Decaffeinated
(556 posts)Aerows
(39,961 posts)I thought we were in the clear after Florida, Kansas and Arizona did shitty things. I guess our state just HAS to be in the running for "shitty things the USA can do" every year. Wouldn't want our state to get behind on doing shitty things .
Why this state has to be so homophobic is beyond me. We have some lovely gay people here, and I'm not even including myself because I'm an ass.
ucrdem
(15,512 posts)It's happening in small-town California too. Horrifying stuff. Thought we'd gotten waaay past this but I guess Bush-Cheney turned the clock back further than we thought.
Anyway I hope the family can stick it out until their daughter is old enough to head to college or just to get the heck out of their. Hattiesburg would be a big improvement if they can figure out how to get her there. Going by what a friend says who's lived there several years.
arely staircase
(12,482 posts)At least in the district I teach.
Response to Playinghardball (Original post)
freshwest This message was self-deleted by its author.
uponit7771
(90,347 posts)... lack of humanity
Kurovski
(34,655 posts)Who but the deranged would otherwise feel openly justified with such depths of cruelty toward a child?
FrodosPet
(5,169 posts)The Moss Point School District is a public school district based in Moss Point, Mississippi (USA).
In addition to Moss Point, the district also serves the communities of Escatawpa and Helena.
Demographics
2006-07 school year
There were a total of 3,216 students enrolled in the Moss Point School District during the 2006-2007 school year. The gender makeup of the district was 49% female and 51% male. The racial makeup of the district was 71.49% African American, 26.68% White, 1.34% Hispanic, 0.44% Asian, and 0.06% Native American. 69.5% of the district's students were eligible to receive free lunch.
Moss Point High School has had foreign exchange students every school year for several years now.
--------------------------------------------
Fortunately, the assistant principal mentioned does not appear to be working there any more
http://www.mosspointschools.org/2013-01-17-21-38-17/mms-staff
idwiyo
(5,113 posts)gollygee
(22,336 posts)My God, people can be horrible.
ck4829
(35,077 posts)Solly Mack
(90,770 posts)http://www.mosspointschools.org/2013-01-17-21-38-20/mpkpe-staff?view=employee&id=262
http://mosspointschools.org/schools/mpkpe
ETA:
and this site list her as the Alternative Learning Center Principal.
http://www.gceic.org/_counties/default.cfm?ThisCounty=30&ThisDistrict=11
FrodosPet
(5,169 posts)I was hoping this district would have been smart enough to bounce her bigoted ass out on the street.
Now she can infect even younger children with her hatred and backwardness.