From: ACTION ALERT Moderator Subject: ACTION ALERT: Arkansas Date: Wed, 22 Jan 1997 09:23:28 -0600 (CST) [ submitted by egordon@delphi.com ] *** SUMMARY *** Here is some information regarding two teenagers living in northwest AR who have been the victims of hate crimes. Please, read and respond with letters to the addresses provided at the end. In the December 6th issue of the Northweat Arkansas Times, there were reports of gay related hare crimes, in Fayetteville, AR. The first was a report of a 16-year-old, young man who had been repeatedly harrassed at high school for being gay. William Wagner has endured harrassment for several years since he came out in Junior High in Fayetteville. In this recent incidenthe was beaten in the street in the middle of the school day with fellow students screaming, "This is what you deserve.", "You faggot." We all know that school officials are sticking their heads in the sand when saying, "We were not aware of any such incidents." Even though it was reported in the article that these incidents of name calling were occurring in class during school hours. Teachers have heard these taunts and slurs against Mr. Wagner in class and have refused to take any action in the matter, either against the students that are the harrassers or reporting said students to principal. The other gay related incident is a homophobic bashing of a 12-year-old junior high student. Her mother stated that her daughter has been physically harrassed over two years at different Fayetteville schools because her mother is a lesbian. The 12-year-old girl, now a seventh grader at Woodland Junior High School, fears for her own safety. The 12-year-old student has told her mother that there's not been one day that she has not been called terrible names, tripped, kicked, hot or spit upon. This is a daily occurrence and never lets up. The student has reported these incidents to to the teachers and prinicpals. They tell her to go back to class. When the principal was contacted, she stated that she was unaware of alleged assaults. The student sits alone at lunch, and has to take lower grades on group projects because other students refuse to work with her. In the most recent assault, five students wrapped the 12-year-old in a parachute during gym class and kicked her in the head. The mother of the student said she could no longer stay silent, "The abuse worsens if I come to school, but I had to say something this time." In elementary school, last year, the mother has compiled a list of 21 violent acts committed against her daughter, and nothing was done. The student received an F on one of her assignments recently because she refused to do it over after another student ripped pages out of her 14 page report in class. But the student who vandalized her report was not punished. Ms. Marbury, principal of the 12-year-old stated that, "Harrassment is rarely a one-sided occurrance." What is this principal saying, that this kind of behavior os acceptable in her school? *** ACTION *** What we are asking everyone to do is write three letters. One to each principal of the two school involved, and one letter to the superintendent of schools in Fayetteville. Please, express your outrage that these kinds of things are occurring in 1996. We have to put a stop to this behavior. Superindentent of schools - Dr. Bobby New P.O. Box #849 Fayetteville, AR 72702 Principal - John Delap Fayetteville High School East Campus 1001 W. Stone Fayetteville, AR 72701 (16 year-old, William Wagner) Principal - Evelyn Marbury Woodland Junior High School 15 E. Poplar Fayetteville, AR 72703 Thank you. Esther Gordon PFLAG- Little Rock egordon@delphi.com --- _____________________________________________________________________________ * ACTION-ALERT is a moderated mailing list. * * To subscribe to ACTION-ALERT, send mail to: majordomo@vector.casti.com * * In the mail message, enter ONLY the words: subscribe action-alert * * To unsubscribe to ACTION-ALERT, send mail to: majordomo@vector.casti.com * * In the mail message, enter ONLY the words: unsubscribe action-alert * * Words in the Subject: line are NOT processed! * _____________________________________________________________________________