Update: Student Suspended in Jamey Rodemyer Bullying Case

Remember the sicking story about the bullies who chanted, “We’re glad you’re dead” at Jamey’s sister during a homecoming dance? Well it appears one of those bullies may have been caught.

LGBTQ Nation is reporting that, “The (School) district identified a single student believed responsible for the Sept. 22 incident at the homecoming event, and that he has imposed a long-term suspension which was “to the fullest extent allowed by state education law.”

The School District made the announcement via You Tube:

Three other students could be facing criminal charges for the bullying that led up to Rodemyer’s suicide. LGBTQ Nation says “The Amherst Police Department Special Victims Unit has opened a criminal investigation to determine whether to charge some students with harassment, cyber-harassment or hate crimes. “

The Rest Of The Story: “Homosexuality is wrong” kid harassed teacher

Stop me if you’ve heard this one:  A 16-year-old Fort Worth Texas student got kicked out of his class earlier this month for telling his German teacher that he “was a christian and believed that homosexuality is wrong”.

If you haven’t you haven’t been paying attention. The story has gotten big play by hundreds of fascist right wing websites, talk show hosts and media outlets across the country.  Not even the Advocate could resist reporting the reverse discrimination spin.

But it turns out Dakota Ary may not exactly he the persecuted christian he makes himself out to be.  The Dallas Voice published a letter this week from Marvin Vann, a member of the group LGBTQ S.A.V.E.S., formed about a year ago to protect LGBT students and teachers in Tarrant County from anti-gay harassment.

“Kristopher Franks, a German teacher with a long and distinguished service record at Western Hills High School, is currently being investigated by FWISD administrators, swayed by a right-wing attempt to rouse public opinion against him for having the temerity to write a disciplinary referral against Dakota Ary, a student whom Franks reports publicly harassed him in class on the basis of the student’s perception that Mr. Franks is gay,” Writes Vaughn.

“On the particular day in which this incident occurred, Mr. Franks was opening class when the topic of Christianity in Germany was broached by one student, who asked what churches were there, another whether they read the Bible in English, etc. Franks asserts that the topic of homosexuality was not broached in any way, and that Ary‘s assertions to the contrary are entirely false. At this point, Ary declared, with a class audience, “Gays can’t be Christians; homosexuality is wrong,” looking directly at Mr. Franks. Franks says he understands and affirms students’ right to free speech, and that he is perfectly prepared to lead a respectful discussion on topics such as gay rights that allows for the assertion of opinions with which he disagrees. He has led such discussion in the past in his sociology classes. But in this case, hr feels the context makes it clear that this remark was made ad hominem, aimed specifically at him to devalue him and any information he might share on the topic of religion, on the basis of his perceived sexual orientation.”

To add insult to injury,  Vaughn points out that Franks isn’t really able to defend himself in the media  “This is being depicted in numerous news reports as an effort to suppress the student’s First Amendment right to free speech. As Franks and the district cannot speak to media while the incident is being investigated by the district, only the student and his Liberty Institute lawyer’s version of the incident is being reported in the media.”

Just who is the Liberty Institute? Why it’s the same fascist radical conservative legal mouthpiece that belives such things as ” an attack on a healthy 22-year-old homosexual man would be more protected under the law than an attack on an eight-year-old child,”  and other such nonsense.  Not exactly the ACLU.

And now you know the rest of the story.