Teen Speaks Out After Vicious Beating For Being Gay (VIDEO)

When video of 15-year-old Zachary being beaten over and over again by a classmate went viral in October, complaints from the family to school officials went ignored, WBNS reported.

"[A school official] basically said, 'There's a few gay kids in school and you're the only one they have problems with," Zach told the station. "So, what can you do to tone yourself down?'"

The school's handling of the attack outraged Zach's mother Becky Collins, who couldn't understand why officials would say her son needed to change, instead of the bullies. Justice could be close for the high schooler, however, after the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio issued the school district with a kind of ultimatum: come up with a plan to fight bullying or be slapped with a lawsuit, the Lancaster Eagle-Gazette reported.

James Hardiman, legal director for the ACLU of Ohio, told the paper that the motion should be taken seriously.

"We have reached out to the school to make certain they understand and appreciate what we're trying to accomplish," Hardiman said in a press conference, according to the Lancaster Eagle-Gazette. "We will not hesitate, however, if a response is not forthcoming, to take appropriate legal action."

Earlier this month, more than 6,000 people joined a campaign on Change.org hoping to pressure the school district to amend its anti-bulling policy to include sexual orientation and gender identity, the Columbus Dispatch reported.

According to WBNS, Union-Scioto Superintendent Dwight Garrett said he received the letter, but would offer no further comment.

Comments

[David Moore]

07:49 PM on 11/20/2011

Let the ACLU sue the pants off this school district. Sue them into oblivion, if and only if, they cannot come up with a reasonable solution that addresses bullying and implements tolerance as part of the curriculum. As this occurred in Ohio, one need ask Governor Kasich if he had not been so busy trying to strip away union collective bargaining rights, would he and the legislature have had more time to implement a law that mandates that all schools must have an anti-bullying program in place.

[wacado]

09:28 PM on 11/18/2011

No one has the right to beat another because they don't like that person for whatever reason. All these young people who have committed suicide because they were being bullied let the bullies win by killing themselves. Yeah, things are tuff. But it does get better. I am a high school teacher and I tell those kids who seem to have a hard time socially that what happens in high school really doesn't matter. Chances are you will never see these people again. You will go on to college, meet some people who like you for who you are, and you will live a good life. I was bullied as a child, in high school, but things are good. Those who bullied me don't even cross my mind. WHO ARE THEY?

[Coffee4Me]

11:12 AM on 11/18/2011

I don't care what religion,sexual preference,color of skin,financial background, or type of breakfast cereal you eat in the morning, THERE IS NOTHING THAT CAN EXCUSE THIS TYPE OF BEATING in or out of a classroom EVER! This child was assulted and is being dismissed by the very same adults that acce[ted a career which requires them to be responsible for protecting children. You don't have to agree with his lifestyle, but just know that there may be something about yourself that someone may not like. Would you deserve to be assaulted for it? Of course you wouldn't, neither did this child.

[Larsami1]

04:37 AM on 11/18/2011

Everyone has a belief of how it all should be based on biblical beliefs or whatever that a boy should be with a girl and not act like one. Schools and society should realize by now that that's not the case today with everyone. Schools and parents should teach kids to be who they are and to leave the so-called oddballs alone. If a boys seems girlish. So what. He's not hurting anyone and just trying to survive in this world. What they think by bullying him that it will change who he is? They need to stop bullying these kids because they are not considered "normal". If the bullies want to bully someone, go sign up for football and kick the other team's you know what.

[emmeaki]

02:06 PM on 11/17/2011

Where the hell were the teachers while a kid was being beaten in the classroom?

[Larsami1]

04:39 AM on 11/18/2011

It wouldn't surprise me if they were just outside watching it all.

[ver1tas]

12:32 PM on 11/17/2011

Sad day for America

[justsayno]

11:49 AM on 11/17/2011

omg our soceity gets more f'd up every day

[PerfumeisToxic]

10:41 AM on 11/17/2011

This boy was bullied not because he was gay but because he was "feminine" and didn't conform to his expected gender role. All these problems wouldn't happen if we updated out expectations of gender roles. Strict exaggerated gender conformity is outdated. In the modern world men and women should be free to choose their own personality and not have it dictated to them by outdated customs. This means how you talk, walk, dress, act, think, live, and who you have romantic relationships with. These haters are trying to keep a social custom of exaggerated gender roles alive that has become outdated and is destructively restricting people.

[Steven Alan McGaw]

09:51 AM on 05/10/2012

Bravo!

[brightalchemy]

10:15 AM on 11/17/2011

Wow!!!! So many different opions-and of course the only course of action here is to threaten a lawsuit. Let's see how do we approach this: First if a person chooses this lifestyle- these are the kind of actions that may or may not happen, I do not condone what was happening to this child which at 15 they still are, parent's take a more active stance when you see your child displaying some abnomalties, rather it's Bullying, Homosexuality, etc. explain to them the positive and the negative attention they they shall bring on themselves; go back to teaching them gender specific actions. It's really not hard to explain that Men are Men/ Women are Women-and as a society that for some reason has decided that some Men are going to have more feminine qualities whereby they choose to admire and fall in love with other Men and vice-versa with Women. That they do so with disregard to what other people think. Yet they themselves segragate themselves from the soceity that thing their wrong and even though we have become a society of acceptance, not all of wish to accept these individuals who dare to be different from what we expect to be the norm.

[MoeB]

10:44 AM on 11/17/2011

First, being gay is not a "lifestyle"...gay people aren't gay because it's some sort of fashion trend.

Second, if you are AT ALL justifying what this bully did, then you ARE condoning this bully's action.

And what in the world are "gender specific actions"???? Women cooking and shopping? Men hunting and watching sports? What a ridiculous statement.

"Men are going to have more feminine qualities whereby they choose to admire and fall in love with other Men and vice-versa with Women"

Again with the "choose". If you believe gays "choose" to be gay, then you are probably bisexual, and I'd love to hear the members of the same sex you are SEXUALLY ATTRACTED to but don't act on those attractions by "choice".

Lastly, being gay is VERY "normal" to someone who's gay. Pretending to NOT be is what isn't.

[Marcus047]

11:25 AM on 11/17/2011

"First if a person chooses this lifestyle"

being gay is not a chosen lifestyle - it's a biological fact of life. And never ever is it acceptable to bully someone because they are gay.

You're a bigot and it's your kind of thinking that excuses and encourages this kind of violence. I wish you a fraction of all the harassment, hate, and violence that LGBT kids face every day.

[BDrummer]

08:55 AM on 11/17/2011

Wow, a little ignorant are we?

[Kalari]

09:08 AM on 11/17/2011

Are you serious? NO really so you think that teaching a boy to be a "Man" will stop them from being gay? Honestly your comments are sad. This is a story about hatred for being different and you can rant on man hating single moms maybe if men would stick around their wouldnt be so many of it but its funny how your comment on homosexuality being bred from single parents and man hating mommies shows the real culprit for such hate being around. I hope one day a cure for ignorance is found cause it is really over due and needed.

[liberaltotalitarianism]

09:20 AM on 11/17/2011

The destruction of the family unit is exactly why all of this absurdity is happening and I clearly blame males (not men) who have abdicated their responsibilities abd their roles as positive male figures to their children but especially to their sons.

This goes for both bullies and the bullied.

[Kalari]

09:41 AM on 11/17/2011

That would imply by you that a "Family" prevents homosexuality. It is not a disease it is a preference something that is felt emotionally by individuals and is not taught, I really truly feel such ideals are what leads to kids being picked on and bullied. So many people pointing fingers at single parents, instead of ignorance hate comes from that it doesnt matter if there are one or two people teaching it. I just cannot fathom how people try to turn this into a well if he wasnt gay, bullies pick on kids for various reasons and no matter what its always wrong. If he wasnt gay it would be because hes weaker looking, fat girly or any other reasoning they give themselves to do these things. That is a sad fact of all of this.

[Kalari]

08:42 AM on 11/17/2011

I do not understand why it takes threats of lawsuits for schools to provide a place for all kids to learn safely. Bullying of anyone should not be tolerated. It is mind boggling how they can say that because other gay kids were not picked on it was that childs fault for being what too flamboyant? Is that really the attitude these adults are going to take when it comes to kids? And whats next if a kid is too fat its their fault to, too tall, to awkward looking. I just cannot believe they would rather make excuses then have a zero tolerance for bullying. It just makes no sense to me at all that they do not have this.

[queenietoo]

10:03 AM on 11/17/2011

You've said it all Kalari good post

[lacrosselamore]

02:36 PM on 11/17/2011

Fanned. Nicely put.

[Mariah Dailey]

08:17 AM on 11/17/2011

Good for that boy speaking up, recording, and reporting. He kept his cool and got the job done!!
So impressive for 15 yrs old. He took matters into his own hands, very cool!!

[carmenalex]

10:14 AM on 11/17/2011

Very brave, very smart..he will go far.

[wacado]

10:15 PM on 11/19/2011

YEs, very cool.

[kenoshaguy2]

08:00 AM on 11/17/2011

This bully needs some anger managment courses and about 500 hours or community service! Big moose like that going after a small kid like that. Gay or not it is just not right. What if this child had really been hurt badly. I am not saying it didn't hurt , but what if this bully had done some permanent damage to that boy???

[kenoshaguy2]

07:56 AM on 11/17/2011

Kids are not like when we went to school many years ago. They can be cruel, mean, and know so many more ways now to play dirty.

[Marcus047]

11:31 AM on 11/17/2011

I'm sorry, but kids were cruel and mean and homophobic when I was in grade school in the 80s and in highschool in the early 90s. Nothing has changes, except that now some of us are actually paying attention to it and are disturbed by it, unlike our parents and teachers, who didn't care and didn't notice or joined in.

[lacrosselamore]

02:38 PM on 11/17/2011

It was tha same for me in high school 35 years ago. Shoved into lockers at least once a week, threatened, nearly raped (luckily a teacher walked by) and verbally assaulted on a daily basis. In a CATHOLIC SCHOOL.
High school sucks.

[Kalari]

02:46 PM on 11/17/2011

I am so sorry you went threw that. Its sad that such cruel things happen. Schools should be a place where kids can go and learn without fear of what makes them different be it looks, faith, or sexual preference. This is a world of different people but we are all humans and if wed stop trying so hard to figure out what to hate about our differences stuff like this would be nipped in the bud. I just cannot believe what people allow to take place because they act like its wrong to be different look different or feel different and how many people are emotionally scarred due to lack of intervention from educators. I hope that this school gets their act together and others follow suit, no one should be bullied no child should feel like killing themselves because of the torment of their peers.

[PerfumeisToxic]

06:19 AM on 11/17/2011

The violence is not about him being gay. It's about him being non gender conformist. About him being "feminine" Just like 10 year olds with no possible "sexuality" are bullied for being "gay" Gender conformity is the real elephant in the room in homophobia. People who do not conform to the exaggerated fake gender roles set out by others are punished with violence and demonization. To not conform to your gender role is presented as the worst thing you can ever do. Until this "genderphobia" is reckoned with there will be homophobia.

Gay people with their more androgynous ways are threatening to some people. But androgynous people are beautiful and well rounded. We all know it. Even the haters secretly know it. That's why they are so jealous and threatened. Time we stopped apologizing for being beautiful and well balanced. Instead we need admiration for the beauty that is androgyny. And we need to say it loud and proud. Feminine men are beautiful. Masculine women are beautiful. There... I said it!

[carmenalex]

10:15 AM on 11/17/2011

And fanned for it.

[jacmed]

10:17 AM on 11/17/2011

Yes, you said it, PerfumeisToxic -- and have contributed to the nonsensical stereotype of a homosexual! Androgyny is not the norm for homosexuals and, as I'm guessing by your use of the word "we" that you are homosexual, I'm rather surprised that you'd reinforce the stereotype. Some homosexuals are androgynous and some are not. To make the statement that "Gay people with their more androgynous ways are threatening to some people" implies that all gay people are androgynous and contributes to the stereotype that most homosexuals despise!

[PerfumeisToxic]

10:28 AM on 11/17/2011

No...my statement does not mean that "all" gays are androgynous. it means that some are. But I do think that almost all gays do have a quality that makes them gay. Gay men are less likely to enjoy dominating others and gay women are less likely to tolerate being dominated by others. This is a big factor in why they do not fit into normal gender roles of dominant male and submissive female. I think this is true for most gay people who seek a "best friend" type relationship without roles.

[Cindy Tregan]

10:50 AM on 11/17/2011

Perfume - I'm female. I'm straight. I don't tolerate people trying to dominate me, and anyone who knows me would laugh in your face if you told them I was "submissive".

Character traits are not sexual orientation. Sexual orientation is genetic - character traits are learned.