This is what so many kids deal with every day:
Three teenagers beat and slapped a younger boy during bus rides to and from school this week because they suspected he was gay, and two of them taunted him about it, police on New York’s Long Island said Thursday.
David Spencer, 18, and Roy Wilson, 16, were arraigned Thursday in Nassau County Court in Hempstead. Bail was set at $1,000 for Spencer and $500 for Wilson. They were represented by attorneys from Legal Aid, which does not comment on pending cases. A third co-defendant, 16-year-old Chase Morrison, will be arraigned Friday; the name of his attorney was not immediately available.
[...]
The [14 year-old] victim was “stomped and kicked” on his arms, legs and stomach during a bus ride home on Tuesday afternoon, Detective Lt. John MacEwen said. The next morning, Spencer and Morrison allegedly made “disparaging remarks to the victim regarding his sexual orientation,” and slapped him in the head and face. The boy told school officials Wednesday about the encounter and police arrested the older teens later that day.
At least the assailants are being charged, rather than shrugged off as “kids being kids.”
It’s about time that some of these b******s were held accountable for their actions. If these sort of consequences were widespread the incidence of bullying would drop precipitously.
Let’s be clearer, than about “boys being boys.”
This abuse is highly gendered – and addressing the issue head-on can only help identify and correct the problem.
So where the f–k was the bus driver? When we rode on the school bus the driver was responsible for keeping us all in line and in our seats–and they all did it too! I hope more parents of bullied kids start prosecuting and suing not only the bullies, but also the institutions and persons who are supposed to be protecting them.