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Gay Houston teen beaten with metal pipe after principals, bus driver ignore his pleas for help
November 19th, 2009Another day, another horrifying report of violence against a gay teenager.
Jayron Martin, a 16-year-old high school freshman from Houston, tells KHOU-TV that he was chased down after school and beaten with a metal pipe last week while eight classmates stood around and watched.
“All they kept saying was, ‘We going to get you. We going to fight you,’ and all that and so when they started coming after me they were like, ‘You’re not going to be gay anymore.’ They just kept hitting me,” Jayron said.
The beating finally ended when a neighbor pointed a shotgun at the attackers and cocked it. Martin is lucky; he escaped with only a concussion and cuts and bruises on his arms and hands. But the worst part of this story is that Martin had warned two principals and his bus driver that the attack was going to happen, and they apparently did nothing to stop it. One of Martin’s attackers, another 16-year-old, has been arrested and charged with aggravated assault. Martin’s bus driver has been placed on administrative leave, and the school district is investigating. Meanwhile, Martin’s mother said she wants to move out of the neighborhood and the school district. She’s also retained an attorney and is considering a civil lawsuit.
“When the child does what they’re supposed to do and the adult doesn’t, what are you supposed to say then? How do you make him feel comfortable? How do you give him back that sense of security,” Lakenya Martin said.
Tags: hate crimes, Houston, Jayron Martin, KHOU, LGBT youth
November 19th, 2009 at 8:55 am
Please file a civil lawsuit. Lambda Legal???
November 19th, 2009 at 9:26 am
*sigh*
The Obama Administration should be taken to task on this. Their words and meetings with gay rights leaders/groups do not prove real support. Their inability to take swift, direct action on our civil rights creates this ongoing air of gay hatred. Why are democrats so quiet, so timid, so shy, and so unwilling to do anything, when they promised us loudly swift, quick actions for our cause during the election? Their level of support is equal that of Republicans. I say we vote them out – and get someone in there who will walk the walk, not just talk the talk.
More attacks like this will occur until the U.S. Government steps up, repeals “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”, gives gay couples the same rights as married straight couples, and starts accepting the glbt community as a protected minority.
I’m so disappointed in the current administration. As are most gay civil rights organizations. Let’s vote them out – and get someone in who will create an environment where our children won’t be attacked for who they are.
November 19th, 2009 at 10:35 am
My god it’s like a nightmare that is neverending all the sudden. It’s like DV is making this up,. They’re NOT – Jesus wont someone see the light one day and offer more protections? Tbhey say we are not a targeted population in “most instances”, that’s it’s “just the wrong place at the wrong time”, WHATEVER. This is the thirsd story in 3 days, all separate instances, wow….
November 19th, 2009 at 11:12 am
But sure, it’s gay people who are immoral, right heteros???????
Morality indeed.
November 19th, 2009 at 11:21 am
It’s the responsibiiity of the school administrators (the 2 principals) to protect ALL children and not let their personal biases get in the way! I would be sueing the school district, personally each of the principals, and the bus driver along with each of the kids that assaulted this young man as well as their parents for teaching them to hate like that! What the heck happened to “love thy neighbor” as the bible says. It doesn’t say ‘unless they are gay’! Geez. It didn’t take this long for womens’ rights or the african americans to be considered equals and to have their rights protected under the law. Somebody stop the bleeding PLEASE!
November 19th, 2009 at 1:16 pm
I hope the Mom sues the school district’s pants off! Only when it becomes in the school’s best interest (avoiding expensive lawsuits) will school districts start taking the safety of their children seriously enough to address the problems of bullying and fag-bashing.
November 19th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
Don’t mean to be a debbie downer but you can create all the laws in the world to protect us but those laws will not create a loving heart and an open mind. That is up to us. Everytime you read a story like this, put it on your facebook, myspace, email it, talk about it at work. Once these stories start to spread and the mainstream start to see that homophobia is not something that we created in our heads and things like this truly exist in our world, that is when they start to truly understand what many of us go through on a daily basis.
November 19th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
Bill I am heterosexual but at least unlike you and your steel-trap closed mind and bigoted sorry self I have both an open mind and an open heart. Also here’s food for thought, that is unless you can’t manage to choke it down which I doubt you can, GOD MADE HIM THAT WAY! Take a crowbar to that closed mind of yours and pry it open for once in your pathetic life.
November 19th, 2009 at 3:12 pm
Texas at it’s best, once again.
Are you getting used to ithis type of activity?
Well you’d better if you plan on staying in Texas
November 19th, 2009 at 4:35 pm
You can leave a message for the Langham Creek High principal with his assistant Cheryl @ (281) 463-5400.
“I called to inquire as to the fate of the two assistant principals who knew about but did nothing to protect the gay teenager from beating beaten with the lead pipe.”
They sent me to Cheryl’s voicemail. “The whole country is watching, Cheryl.”
November 19th, 2009 at 5:48 pm
The beating of a gay high school student is the fault of the Obama Administration? It’s just amanzing the kind of nonsense that percolates through the fevered minds of the blogosphere.
Perhaps if we would pay more attention to local issues we’d have a greater impact on our own lives and well being. Glbt people have a real interest in promoting anti-bullying initiatives in the legislature and the ISD’s. We also have an interest in overall personnel management and accountability in ISD’s and the kind of administrators superintendents appoint to operate schools.
The Dallas Morning News in March revealed that ‘troubled students’ were subjected to ‘cage fights’ orchestrated by school employees and allegedly approved by the principal of South Oak High School. You really have to question the superintendant’s wisdom in appointing a principal who either approved the fights or was so out-of-touch with his operations that he didn’t know they were going on.
Superintendants should only hire school administrators who clearly see bullying and violence as a serious problem. School administrators should see protecting students from violence as central to their function. This was apparently not the case at South Oak Cliff High School in 2004 and may not be the case today at Langham High School in Houston.
I think it has been a long time since DGLA actually met with Michael Hinojosa to discuss bullying and anti-violence inititatives. It should. And I suspect that Stonewall Democrats has never included those issues in its discussions with legislative candidates. It should as well.
Gay marriage and hate crimes legislation may make great headlines, but the real work comes in focusing on the kinds of things that touch our lives and security directly.
November 19th, 2009 at 6:26 pm
k im gonna give yall the real story now im not saying the boy who beat jayron were right but everyone is thinking that they just chose to beat him because he was gay… that is not it at all.
the guy who beat jayron has a girlfriend and jay is friends with her and one day he took her phone and had it for a while and he started texting her boyfriend from her phone acting like he was her. he was able to get nude pics of the girls boyfriend which he then sent to his phone. how the boyfriend and/or girlfriend found out i dont know. so in a sense it is because he is homo-sexual but its not like they singled him out just because he was gay it was because of what he did.
November 19th, 2009 at 9:07 pm
Baptist children, no doubt.
November 19th, 2009 at 10:37 pm
I do not condone the violence that occurred. We can only hear Jayron’s side of the story, because the school is not able to discuss any students due to FERPA. The incident did not happen at school or on school property. Perhaps administration was remiss for not contacting the parent, however the student also did not contact his parent (plenty of phones at school and cell phones available) and chose to ride the bus home with the bullies. Just because a student attends a school and interacts with others at that school, does not mean the school is responsible for the student outside of school activities. There are many openly gay students at Langham Creek High School and they are treated with respect.
November 20th, 2009 at 12:47 am
Mom, you can’t seriously mean that if a child is threatened in school and tells school officials, and they don’t do anything about it, but the actual attack doesn’t happen until they’re off school property, that that means the school officials are not guilty of negligence? Right off the school bus? I mean come on. If it’s not a law, I think it should be that if any teacher is told that a student is being legitimately threatened with violence, they should have to take action.
November 20th, 2009 at 12:52 am
16-year-old, has been arrested and charged with aggravated assault. That’s it!, just assault. He should be charged with a Hate Crime also… This is uncalled for, He warned 3 adults and nobody did anything! I hope his mother does sue, and the adults that were warned should be fired…..
November 20th, 2009 at 12:59 am
Poster “ANON” wrote the following nonsense: “the guy who beat jayron has a girlfriend and jay is friends with her and one day he took her phone and had it for a while and he started texting her boyfriend from her phone acting like he was her…”
====================
That lying garbage that is being posted to numerous blogsites and on-line newspapers. DON’T BELIEVE THE LIES! Poster ANON is just another homophobe (probably from some anti-gay pseudo-”christian” outfit or a high school friend of the gaybashers). Just another way of blaming the victim by smearing his character. Typical tactic of these subhuman bigots.
November 20th, 2009 at 9:03 am
I’m going to start off by saying this is ridiculous! This report made Jayron out to be a nice young man but he really wasn’t. I’m a senior at Langham and homo sexual so I have certainly had many encounters with Jayron. Many times he harassed heterosexual students to the point they would have to go the principles. He wasn’t afraid to offend, harass, or fight with student. I understand that the student how assaulted Jayron shouldn’t have done what they did but it just infuriates me know that people are up in arms trying to say this was a hate crime because it wasn’t! He terrorized students constantly and sadly enough everybody knew something like this was going to happen. Oh, and on the “ANON” topic it wasn’t the student’s girlfriend’s phone but one of his friends who was a girl. The student that assaulted him found out that it was Jayron and told him to stop but Jayron did not. The Student confronted Jayron asking him to stop and that’s when Jayron asked him to send him a picture of his penis. The student became enraged and started to become very aggressive with Jayron who continued with the perverted comment. After a few more comments the student grabbed a home security sign and began to hit Jayron with the sign, not a pipe. Give it that the sign was made of metal Jayron came to school the next day without any wounds on him. So please people, stop making this into something that it is not. The student was wrong but Jayron was not anything close to what the media has made him out to be.
November 20th, 2009 at 9:21 am
Interesting how the story from the attackers keeps changing. Let’s keep track of how many versions of the story there are. But there are always two sides to a story and the police need to investigate.
November 20th, 2009 at 9:31 am
Rick-Anon
If Jayron conned some kid into showing him his penis does not justify him being physically assaulted…especially if Jayron went to 2 administrators and the bus driver seeking help. I also don’t believe that a homosexual student would harass heterosexual students…but if he did and the administration failed to take action then this is further proof that they are better suited working in another field. Also, I would hope that the future generation has evolved to the point of not cheering on violence. What would have happened if the neighbor had not intervened? Would you still be blaming the victim if he were seriously injured?
November 20th, 2009 at 10:38 am
From what I understand- the boy was sending pornagraphy to more than one person’s cell phone and email, and posed as a woman online.
He shouldn’t have done that, its innapropriate.
I’m not saying he deserved the beating- but really if it was a hate crime then more than one gay kid in the school would have been targeted and beaten.
The administrators probably didn’t do anything because a rumor doesn’t stand as a valid case, he was never faced by the kids before the accident. He only heard that he was going to get beaten up from a friend.
I still agree though, the adults should have done something. This was very sad and I hate not being able to laugh and talk to Jay at school anymore- I’m gonna miss him.
November 20th, 2009 at 12:43 pm
So lemme get this right…a gay guy sees your penis & what? You’re gay by proxy? I don’t care how big a douche bag he was, the kid didn’t deserve to be beaten. There’s no justification for that what so ever. If that’s the reason he got beaten then yes, it’s a hate crime. I wonder if Anon Mom would be so blase` if it was her child being whacked with a pipe or sign or whatever it was? This thug-life bullshit has to stop. Maybe while kids are learning about diversity & respect for others, they should also be learning that there are better ways to resolve a conflict. It would be nice to imagine that we’ll eventually leave the cave-man behavior behind us.
November 20th, 2009 at 4:05 pm
Dawn- that is the stupidest thing anyone could ever say.
We didn’t say he deserved to be beaten, and these kids weren’t thugs.
Keep your nose out of business that doesn’t concern you.
November 20th, 2009 at 4:26 pm
The police should have been contacted and the attackers arrested for assault. Interesting the commenters coming to an LGBT site on Transgender Day of Remembrance to attack the kid who was attacked. What’s the agenda? Friends of the attackers? Doubt it. The comments are coming from fake IP addresses.
November 20th, 2009 at 6:04 pm
alrite this is bull media is only telling one side Jayron’s side! Which is not completely true i go the LCHS and Jay is NOT an awesome nice calm kid media is making him out to be. He is very rude. He pushes everyone and anyone around. He messes with guys who are straight by harassing them. Last year he cornered a mentally challenged kid in the men bathroom and sexually harassed him to where the child went back to his teacher sobbing and had to go talk to the AP’s. But of cousre Jayron wasn’t charged with sexual harassment? Well Jayron had it coming one way or another. There is no way in this world you can go around acting like this and not get beat up its impossible. Im not saying he deserved to get hit with homeland security sign WHICH WASN’T A METAL POLE. I agree AP’s should have done something when Jay told them, but the thing is no one can take him seriously anymore. I suppost gays but Jayron just thinks because he is gay he can do what ever he wants and get away with it!
November 20th, 2009 at 6:18 pm
Another message from the same fake IP address and similar name@live.com email address. Anyone know anything about them or what their agenda is. Don’t argue with them. These are fraudulent messages and no more will be approved to go on the site. Just wondering if anyone reading these knows anything about them.
November 23rd, 2009 at 6:46 pm
To keep up the conversation about this, a profanity-laden post from the same fake IP address was received this evening. I did not post it to the blog.
November 27th, 2009 at 10:48 pm
I agree there are 2 sides to every story and i feel it was not right for those kids to beat him and if the gossip is true that he was not the person the media says he is then that will come out in due time. But I will tell you this coming from a gay LCHS Alumni. The school is not homo friendly and they do react to rumors trust me on this I was persecuted for being a threat to the school durning the columbine days. Suspended because people heard rumors about me. I am shocked and appauled but not surprised that cy fair is using the loop hole “not on our property not our prob.”
question
is there a GSA there in that school? there are many CFISD schools that refuse to start one or start one and turn around disband it on grounds that its just a hook up spot.
The administration should be held accountable for their failure to protect the student.
November 30th, 2009 at 10:13 pm
As a gay senior at LCHS i can only say that Jayron brings disgust to me and the gay community. As mentioned before, he is rude, and brings nothing but trouble. The person who did beat him up is a good friend of mine, and was very shocked to hear what had happened. i was shocked even more when the media announced Jayron had been beaten because he was gay! LIES! Never have i encountered any issues for being gay at LCHS, and this only proves that Jayron knew what he was getting into. People told him numerous times to stop texting guys acting like a girl (he did it to right around 18 guys), and he was arrogant. I am sorry but to anyone who thinks Jayron is a angel, your sadly mistaken and gay protesters needs to look at the other side as well.
December 2nd, 2009 at 10:52 pm
what the fuck is wrong with gays they like to suck dick and id beat the fuck out of every single last one of them with a metal pipe to death
December 3rd, 2009 at 9:08 am
@Robert Baton
I believe inciting violence or invoking the death of any person is criminal in this country. you may wanna watch your mouth!
December 8th, 2009 at 9:05 am
Not true. If this person was sexually harassing those around him, the result could easily be violence. Its hard to say what really happened. I refuse to take up either side’s banner. Let them investigate.
December 10th, 2009 at 4:29 pm
“In the wrong place at the wrong time” … “the Obama Administration” … Are you kidding me?! This boy was not in the wrong place at the wrong time.! He was in the right place at the right time, but just so happened to cross paths with a few dumb-ass teens (excuse my language; i’m a teen myself..). What some of y’all are failing to realize is that this boy is human just like the rest of us. Because he is gay is no reason for anybody to do what those teens did. I have a gay male cousin and I wish somebody MIGHT try to put a hand on him just because he has different views than some of us.. That’s the day i’ll go to jail for murder.. I hope the mother of this child sues the prinicipals, the bus driver, and those kids.. This is just ridiculous..