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Hawaii gay father sues Department of Education over bullying in school
A gay father of two has filed a lawsuit naming the Department of Education, state schools Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi, Deputy Superintendent Stephen Schatz and others as defendants for failing to protect his sons from bullying because of his sexual orientation.
Joshua Alameda Franklin filed the lawsuit on Aug 7 after posting a YouTube video in April this year to raise awareness of the bullying his 9 and 10-year-old sons had to endure every day at school.
‘Both children have been subjected to ongoing pervasive, egregious and overwhelming student-on-student harassment as well as several incidents of teacher-on-student harassment directly resulting from the action and inaction of Department of Education officials,’ the lawsuit filed in in Hilo’s Third Circuit Court reads.
The father says he has repeatedly asked school administrators to intervene but they have done nothing to address the situation in which the children are said to have been called ‘gay’, ‘retarded’ and ‘fag’ by fellow students at Hilo Union Elementary, Waiakeawaena Elementary and other schools.
Franklin said he had witnessed one of his sons being insulted and a teacher, standing right next to them, doing nothing.
In the video, both boys said they were also physically assaulted.
The older boy, Alae, recounted in the video how he was attacked after replying ‘Yeah, there’s nothing wrong with that’ when asked whether his father was gay.
‘You know, this altercation had happened, and (Alea) tells me that he doesn’t want to go to school any more,’ he said.
‘He’s scared no one’s paying attention. “They’re not going to help me. The teachers aren’t listening to me.” I thought about it for a little while, and I was like, you know what? The only way they ever do anything is if I post it on Facebook. So I’m going to post it so that the community knows.’
DOE spokeswoman Donalyn Dela Cruz has responded saying the department is ‘committed to providing a safe and enjoyable learning atmosphere for students, families and educators,’ according to West Hawaii Today.
‘We work to reduce all inappropriate and improper student behavior by emphasizing a culture of respect, responsibility and resiliency, using a framework of prevention, response and follow-up. We work with communities to promote understanding, and investigate incidents to ensure student safety.’
She added that the DOE does not differentiate acts of bullying depending on whether they target students for sexual orientation, racial background, and other reasons. Instead, ‘for all inappropriate and improper behaviors, faculty and staff are trained in the context of zero-tolerance,’ she wrote.
Franklin, who had filed the suit himself and has since quit his car salesman job to home school his two sons, has started a fundraising campaign on Gofundme.
The post Hawaii gay father sues Department of Education over bullying in school appeared first on Gay Star News.
Sylvia Tan
www.gaystarnews.com/article/hawaii-gay-father-sues-department-of-education-over-bullying-in-school/
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