When Children Abuse Another Child For Being Gay - They Do It "Because He is Happy"

[TheBigotBasher]

A retired Superior Court judge hired by hired by the DeKalb School System to investigate school failings with regard to the death of 11 year old Jaheem Herrera. Jaheem was taunted at school for being gay as he had a pink lunchbox.

Retired Judge Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore found nothing wrong with children using "gay" to taunt Jaheem. At a press conference, the judge said, "The children use ‘gay’ for anything and everything. The clothing is gay, the gesture is gay, what they say is gay, and that is a term they use. Now with these students we asked them, ‘Well, what does gay mean?’ They said ‘gay means happy,’ and this is many of the students."

Does she have no understanding that children would have said that to ensure that they do not get in to trouble?

Despite reports of bullying on the day the boy killed himself, Judge Moore concluded it was the recent family deaths Jaheem was dealing with that led him to hang himself.

This was a badly hurt and mixed up child. The school failed in its duty of loco parentis. Yes, children do use, "that is so gay" in a light hearted way. It is not always a term of abuse. However they are also quite prepared and do use it as a term of abuse. Those on the receiving end know the difference. This should have been as obvious to Judge as it is obvious to anyone else.It is not what things are said, it is how they are said. The judge should be ashamed of herself.

I hope that there will be a more through investigation into the tragic death of this poor child.



http://www.sovo.com/2009/5-29/news/localnews/10158.cfm

http://www.queerty.com/anti-gay-bullying-claims-another-jaheem-herrera-11-kills-himself-20090421/

[stubtoe]

1. Kids can be such cruel little rats sometimes.

:hide:

[get the red out]

4. Why they need adults to be adults

And teach them not to abuse others. Unfortunately too many adults approve of this kind of abuse.

There was certainly a tolerance by school employees of abuse of suspected gay students when I was in school many years ago; and judging by some law suites in my state against school systems in recent years the big change is that parents now at least have some recourse to try to seek justice and fair treatment for their children.

[ThomCat]

2. Damn It! I hate it when the judges are so damned blatant

in covering up for bigotry, defending bullying, making it okay for people to keep targeting us.

Doesn't she think that LGBT people, kids, are among the people he's supposed to be protecting with equal justice? :grr:

Yes, she's retired and not acting as a judge. she's just using her status as a judge to lend weight to her judgement as the investigator of what happened here. And she's blatantly covering up for the school, getting them off the hook for letting the bullies run wild. :(

[TheBigotBasher]

3. She

I agree with your point

[ThomCat]

5. Thank you.

corrected.

[renate]

6. whether the taunting was the reason he killed himself or not...

DAMN IT. What a horrible waste of a precious, sweet, young life. I can't stand to think of this poor child being teased because of a PINK LUNCHBOX.

Every year I take my kids shopping for school supplies and I can imagine one of them being innocent enough to pick a pink lunchbox because he likes pink... or what about kids who have to make do with hand-me-downs and don't get to choose their lunchbox? Either way--FUCK any bully who gives a kid crap because of a lunchbox or because he is who he is.

I hate the way that the innocent are SO at the mercy of the assholes. That poor little boy.

:cry:

[tomm2thumbs]

7. hopefully the guilt of those kids will last long into their later years - and they learn from it

[FreeState]

8. Wow k&r n/t

[Chulanowa]

9. "Gay means happy"

Yeah because happy kids are killing themselves all the fucking time, right Judge Thelma?

traffic court doesn't count. Fucking incompetent.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

10. When my older boy was in kindergarden, he hugged his buddy on the playground

and was immediately surrounded by kids saying "Ewww! You're gay!" Teachers were on duty, but none of them did anything to stop it. If they had been taunting him with racial slurs, it would not have been tolerated. They just didn't give a damn about this. :(

[gaspee]

11. There are only two choices here:

This woman is a moron.

This woman is a bigot.

I'm open to other explanations, but it's gonna take some convincing.