人兽性交

Jonathan Bachman/AP Images

It was clear to Destin Holmes, the plaintiff in a new 人兽性交 lawsuit, that she wasn鈥檛 welcome at her junior high school along the Gulf Coast in Mississippi.

From the moment she arrived in the school district for the eighth grade, other students taunted and mocked her. They bombarded her with anti-gay slurs and insults 鈥� calling her 鈥渄yke鈥� and 鈥渋t.鈥� Sometimes 鈥渇reak鈥� or 鈥渉e-she.鈥�

Along with the insults, students threw things at her in class. Destin repeatedly appealed to teachers and other school officials to help her 鈥� as did her father and her grandmother.

But the grown-ups at Magnolia Junior High refused. Even worse, they joined in and blamed her for the abuse she faced.

One teacher refused to let her use the girls鈥� restroom, forcing her to use the boys鈥� room instead. Another wouldn鈥檛 let her participate in a math exercise where the class was divided by gender, because, according to the teacher, she was 鈥渁n in-between it.鈥� Destin sat in the middle of the classroom and cried while the other children laughed.

Even after she attempted suicide, which the school was made aware of, the harassment continued.

Desperate, her family appealed to the state Department of Education, but officials there said it was a local matter. At the local level, though, the school鈥檚 top officials were indifferent 鈥� even hostile. The聽 principal told Destin鈥檚 mental health caseworker that he wouldn鈥檛 follow his recommendations, because 鈥渨hen you are in my school, you follow my lead since I allow you to be here.鈥� And he told Destin, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 want a dyke in this school.鈥�

He called her a 鈥減athetic fool.鈥�

Finally, her family withdrew Destin from school and began homeschooling her. But that was a financial hardship, and the following school year 鈥� in the fall of 2013 鈥� she was again enrolled, this time at Moss Point High School.

She found the abuse wasn鈥檛 over. Despite knowing she was a girl, a teacher addressed her as 鈥渂oy鈥� in front of the class. When she reported the incident, she was transferred to a math class that was a year above her skill level and wasn鈥檛 able to return for several weeks.

Despite the 人兽性交鈥檚 attempts to resolve the matter through a demand letter sent to the school district in early 2013, a resolution was not reached. So the 人兽性交 filed a federal civil rights lawsuit that seeks to enforce Destin鈥檚 civil rights and force the district to address the mistreatment of Destin and other lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender students.

The suit, filed in December, asserts the district has violated Destin鈥檚 rights under the 14^th Amendment鈥檚 Equal Protection Clause and Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972.

鈥淒istrict officials who are entrusted with the safety and education of all students not only ignored, dismissed and even blamed victims for the abusive behavior of faculty and other students, they also participated in discriminatory acts,鈥� said Anjali Nair, 人兽性交 staff attorney. 鈥淒estin has been humiliated and tortured. Our suit seeks justice for her and other students who were mistreated, as well as reforms that will prevent this from happening again.鈥�

The lawsuit is part of the 人兽性交鈥檚 campaign to ensure the dignity and safety of LGBT students in schools across America. Its highly successful Teaching Tolerance documentary, Bullied: A Student, a School and a Case that Made History, has been distributed, free of charge, to more than 100,000 educators nationwide. In addition, in 2012, the 人兽性交 reached a historic settlement with the Anoka-Hennepin School District in Minnesota to protect LGBT students following a rash of suicides by students who were bullied because of their sexual orientation.聽

Destin and students like her want nothing more than safe classrooms free of harassment.

鈥淚 deserve to go to school where students, and especially the teachers, don鈥檛 always call me names,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he district should have protected me and made sure I was learning, like the rest of the kids. Instead, the students, teachers and even principal, called me names. It shouldn鈥檛 have happened to me, and it shouldn鈥檛 happen to anyone else.鈥�