Bullies made “straight pride” posters with a gay student’s face as he endured years of bullying

 A gay child and his mother have been allowed to continue to sue the Prince William County School Board in Virginia, with accusations that the school did nothing to stop the young boy from being brutally bullied due to his sexuality.

The complaint, which was filed by the plaintiff’s mother in June 2023, says that her son experienced “regular and relentless anti-LGBTQ+ bullying” when he attended middle school at Ronald Reagan Middle School in Haymarket.

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The defendants in the case are the Prince William County School Board as well as Christopher Beemer and Jenita Boatwright, the principal and assistant principal, respectively, of Ronald Reagan Middle School, along with the school board. Boatwright has left the school board, but Beemer is still in his position as principal.

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The plaintiffs, who have not been identified, say that the Prince William County School Board, Beemer, and Boatwright, responded to them asking for help from school leadership with the bullying “with victim blaming and inaction.”

The plaintiff started school out as gay, which was known by both students and staff, in August 2019. In September 2019, the bullying began. The first incident involved several students allegedly taking the plaintiff’s belongings and passing them around the classroom while saying homophobic slurs. No teacher stopped this behavior until it happened three more times.

When the student’s mother emailed Boatwright and other administrators regarding the bullying, then-Principal Joseph Murgo emailed back the following day saying, “We are on it. Thanks for letting us know!”

Later that year, the school went online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In December 2021, students were back in the classroom and the boy was in 8th grade, when five students, all identified in court documents by their initials, surrounded him and began calling him homophobic slurs, including a school administrator’s son, known as K.R.

In the complaint, the plaintiff’s mother says that two teachers nearby did nothing. When the boy hurried to his car, his bullies followed and gave his mother the middle finger. When the boy’s mother confronted teachers in the vicinity to ask them for help, they said they would “take care of it.”

The teachers walked the bullies to the office, where they were met by K.R.’s mother. When the plaintiff’s mother again called the office to report the incident, K.R.’s mother said she would handle it.

The bullying continued through 2022, when a student made a “straight pride” poster with the plaintiff’s face on it. In May of that year, several students followed the plaintiff into the bathroom and banged on the stall doors while shouting homophobic slurs, saying, “There’s a girl in here,” and threatening violence towards the plaintiff.

The plaintiff reported these incidents throughout the year to his counselor, who told his mother that her son was “not safe” at school.

The defendants in the case – Beemer, Boatwright, and the board – filed a motion to dismiss the case, which the court denied in full for the board, while parts of the motion were accepted for the two individuals. The case will proceed.

A spokesperson for the school division told Inside NOVA that it does not comment on active litigation, but “PWCS remains committed to providing an inclusive and excellent education for every student and has no tolerance for harassment, bullying or intimidation of students.”

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