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Gay Student Attacked by Teacher's Aide - Possible Victim of Hate Crime

Below is an e-mail press release about a Texas teacher's aide who attacked a gay student during school hours in a classroom. The date of the press release was Monday, May 26, 2003.

Founded in 1999, NTAC - the National Transgender Advocacy Coalition - is a §501(c)(4) civil rights organization working to establish and maintain the right of all transgendered, intersexed, and gender-variant people to live and work without fear of violence or discrimination.

To learn more about NTAC please visit: www.ntac.org.

View KPRC TV's coverage of the attack here: www.click2houston.com/news/2223318/detail.html.

GAY STUDENT ATTACKED BY TEACHER'S AIDE POSSIBLY VICTIM OF HATE CRIME

On Thursday, a Houston high school student reported that a teacher's aide assaulted him in class because he is gay. The teacher's aide, also an assistant coach at the school, allegedly taunted the student with comments about his sexual orientation over the course of the school year. The Texas Gender Advocacy & Information Network (TGAIN) and the National Transgender Advocacy Coalition (NTAC) are calling for dismissal of the teacher, as well as an investigation of possible hate crimes charges.

The Westbury High School teenager and his mother were interviewed Thursday on KPRC, an NBC TV affiliate in Houston. During the interview, both mother and son requested to remain anonymous out of concern for their safety.

The situation came to the fore this week as the teacher (who remained nameless pending investigation) assaulted the teenager who was seated at his desk in class. The incident was in full view of the class, and according to reports, seven or eight other students corroborated the story for school administrators.

In the incident, the student recounted how the teacher's aide walked up to his desk, "proceeded to wrap some plastic around his hand, wrapped it around my neck and then he pulled me up out of my desk and slammed me to the floor." The assault caught the student by surprise. "I'm terrified of that man."

According to reports, it was not an isolated, spontaneous occurrence. The man reportedly had been harassing the student "all year" in regards to his sexual orientation. "He would say negative, gay things about me," the student said.

"I feel like no teacher should ever do that to anybody's child," the student's mother said. "(He was) making remarks about 'gay (expletive).' If my son would have hit that teacher, they would have drug [sic] him out by his heels."

"This is a prime example of homophobia run amok in the classroom," stated Vanessa Edwards Foster, chair of NTAC, and executive director of TGAIN.

Foster reported that students are harassed for being gay or effeminate and attacked by other students all too frequently. "For such an attack to come from a teacher virtually demands a criminal investigation, especially given the mitigating circumstances," Foster added. "This is reprehensible."

The Houston Independent School District said that it is investigating the incident and that the teacher's aide has been reassigned away from students and Westbury High School. X-rays showed two hairline fractures in his upper arm, near the shoulder.

Houston Police are also investigating the assault. The student said that he plans to file charges.

"There should be an avid investigation of a possible Hate Crime having occurred here," said Foster. "The James Byrd Hate Crimes Act was signed into law in 2001 for this very reason. Not all hate crimes end in murder." Foster noted that while Texas' Hate Crimes law does not cover gender identity, it does provide protection for sexual orientation. She went on to point out that students - especially males who are too
effeminate, females who are too butch, or those who are openly gay or lesbian - frequently face harassment or threats from schoolmates which often escalate into violence. Students dealing with such incidents often turn to teachers and administrators to help shield them from possible violence.

"When a teacher becomes the attacker of a student in school, it results in a total erosion of the trust and sanctity of the classroom. How does this student return to class after being attacked by his teacher, of all people?!" Foster asked. "The District Attorney needs to take a serious look at this incident. No teacher has the right to assault a student for being gay."

"He should work in no other school, with no children," the student said.

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Contacts: Robyn Walters, Seattle, Washington
Chair, Vanessa Edwards Foster; Houston, Texas
Contact Email: media@ntac.org
Contact Phone: 832-483-9901
Website: http://www.ntac.org