Police In Arizona Investigate Anti-Gay Bullying Of High School Student; Number Of Threats Made Via Facebook

In Arizona, a simple Facebook message between students at rival high schools, now borders on a hate crime, KVOA reporting that Pima County Sheriff's deputies investigated an exchange between a gay Tanque Verde student and some Sabino High School students who allegedly made threatening comments. The victim who did not want to be identified said, "It's terrible. It's more frightening than anything else. It just seems like the stuff that progresses into violence." He said he caught the worst of it while walking home from school; students driving by yelling all sorts of gay slurs. But the most recent attack was over Facebook. The student posted a comment about Jamie Rodemeyer, a 14 year gay student who recently committed suicide after being bullied. The post didn't get the response he had hoped for. The victim said, "One of the guys who I went to middle school with supported the bullying and congratulated them on all the things they had done." The bully's comment sparked hundreds more; most were positive and of encouragement for the victim, but there were others that got worse. He described the comments as, "Terrifying and disgusting." The Sheriff's Department was called in and the Sabino administration said they handled it, but when asked for an on camera interview numerous times they refused. They only spoke on the phone and said they take bullying very seriously and they have a zero tolerance policy. Sabino students on the other hand were more than happy to talk. They said it's not a good representation of their school and that it just shows how dangerous things like Facebook can be. Aaron Kay said, "Everyone sees it, not just one person. On the internet, everyone who has Facebook can see it." Robert Morgan added, "That friend will see it and then that friend will see it and it becomes just one big mess." But the victim said as bad as it all was, it also brought up something good. He said, "It really alerted me to the support system I have at my school." And it wasn't just his fellow students, even teachers stepped up. Julie Smith is the Gay-Straight Alliance advisor. She said, "At first I do have to tell you I sat down and cried." She later said, "I mean some of the threats on Facebook were physical threats and I was afraid they would be carried out. I just couldn't see myself not stepping in and doing something to help out." The victim said that really meant a lot but added students are the ones that can make the biggest difference. It's something kids at Sabino said they're more than prepared to do if they ever see it. Sabino student James Maki said, "We go up to them and say, 'Hey, how would you feel? Cut it out.' Once enough people start realizing it's a negative thing they usually stop because people start giving him crap about it." As bad as this case was the Gay-Straight Alliance at Tanque Verde said their goal now is to turn it into a teaching point. It's gotten the attention of nearly two entire schools and now a large part of the community, and they said that's a good thing because anti-gay bullying is still a major problem and they said the more attention it gets the better.