Hundreds of Ohio high school students caught on YouTube chanting 'f----ts'
Mon. October 18, 2010 11:41 PM by GoPride.com News Staff
Eastlake, Ohio -
Hundreds of students at a high school in Ohio were caught in a YouTube video chanting "Powder Blue F----ts" at an opposing football team last Thursday night.
Eastlake North Principal Jennifer Chauby told the Cleveland Plain Dealer this wasn't the first time she had heard her students use this chant against rivals Willoughby South. She said that after her arrival at the school a few years ago, she'd heard kids use the word at a game and "stopped it immediately."
Although many of the students are clearly identifiable, none will be disciplined. The principal said the students claim to be following in a pack mentality, and that it's unrealistic to suspend 300 kids.
"What the students learned is a life lesson," Chauby told the newspaper. "This is an opportunity to learn from a mistake."
Local GLBT advocates are concerned.
"It's bullying," local GLBT activist Jan Cline told the Cleveland Plain Dealer. "That's why in the past few weeks young men have been killing themselves. The unintended impact of this is that it drives young men and women to kill themselves. It sets them apart. What happened at the game tells people that its OK to say anti-gay slurs because these people are not worth much."
Eastlake North Principal Jennifer Chauby told the Cleveland Plain Dealer this wasn't the first time she had heard her students use this chant against rivals Willoughby South. She said that after her arrival at the school a few years ago, she'd heard kids use the word at a game and "stopped it immediately."
Although many of the students are clearly identifiable, none will be disciplined. The principal said the students claim to be following in a pack mentality, and that it's unrealistic to suspend 300 kids.
"What the students learned is a life lesson," Chauby told the newspaper. "This is an opportunity to learn from a mistake."
Local GLBT advocates are concerned.
"It's bullying," local GLBT activist Jan Cline told the Cleveland Plain Dealer. "That's why in the past few weeks young men have been killing themselves. The unintended impact of this is that it drives young men and women to kill themselves. It sets them apart. What happened at the game tells people that its OK to say anti-gay slurs because these people are not worth much."