A U.S teen from El Campo High School in Texas has opened up and revealed the extent of homophobic bullying he received after being nominated for Homecoming King.
Speaking with ABC13, Justin Boone, who says he was initially “really excited” about his nomination for homecoming king, soon found himself at the centre of a homophobic storm, leaving Boone to frightened to go to school.
“The homophobic comments, I just didn’t feel like hearing it …”
“In case I did win [The Homecoming King titile], I heard some people were going to boo … and I just didn’t feel like going through that.”
Speaking about the bullying her son faced, Justin’s mother added, “We need to acknowledge that the school does have these bullying tendencies, and it’s not being acknowledged by anyone, and I feel like the school can take a step forward and try something new.”
Despite the bullying, Boone adds that not all the attention was negative, adding that some of his classmates have rallied around him after the incident.
“A lot of people came up to me and texted me and really sent me some good support.”
disturbingly, Texas is one of is six states that still continues to maintain a “No Promo Homo” law, which directs state schools to teach that being LGBTI is “not an acceptable lifestyle,” and requires sex education materials to include “emphasis, provided in a factual manner and from a public health perspective, that homosexuality is not a lifestyle acceptable to the general public.”
Unfortunately things seem to continue to go backwards in the state, with the Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott recently signed legislation into law that makes it illegal to discriminate against businesses with anti-LGBT views, meaning state agencies will be unable to take “any adverse action” that is based “wholly or partly on a person’s belief or action in accordance with the person’s sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction, including beliefs or convictions regarding marriage.”
