Although this is good news. 15 yr old Zachary Huston who was attacked while the bully waited for him can breath a sigh of relief that the bully Levi Sever has been charged with a felony in the attack.
A 15-year-old Ross County boy was charged this morning with a delinquency count of assault in the videotaped beating of a fellow high-school student that sparked fresh calls to protect gay kids from bullying.
Unioto High School student Levi Sever will appear later in juvenile court to answer to the charge filed by the office of Prosecutor Matthew Schmidt following an investigation by the sheriff’s office. Schmidt was not available for comment this morning.
Sever is accused of assaulting 15-year-old Zachary Huston at the high school on Oct. 17, with the victim’s mother contending he was targeted because he is gay. The case has captured national attention.
“A lot of people feel the outrage but don’t always know how to make their voices heard,” said Bret Thompson, a Columbus man leading an online petition drive in the wake of the attack.
via Ross County youth charged in school assault | The Columbus Dispatch.
You know what’s funny (though not very) is that there are hazing laws in 44 states, and the other 6 use the assault and battery laws for when students beat up fellow students — we don’t need a specific law for “gay bullying” — but the enforcement of the hazing, and assault and battery laws. Bullying and hazing are the same thing, one more organized than the other that’s all. But so long as cops and prosecutors simply treat gay folks as people who ask to be beaten up instead of going after the attackers, even a “bullying” law ain’t going to help up. Still, this is a good sign. And more camera reports of the sheer numbers of attacks on gay folks in schools and elsewhere will be far more effective in the long run than any law, that’s for sure. These sorts of incidents help us a lot, and when the time comes, I hope all the bullied are given hero status.
This is why I argue I’m to proud to be gay, I’m proud I survived the onslaught.