EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. — A 12-year-old middle school student was branded with a homophobic slur in the latest school bullying incident, in which his mother describes as the “last straw.”
Caylend Childs (top), and screen shot of the back of his neck. The “g” in “fag” was blurred by the TV station.
Image via: KTVI-TV
Caylend Childs, a seventh grader at Mason Clark Middle School in East St. Louis, says that he was resting his head on his desk when bullies wrote “fag” on the back of his neck — in permanent marker.
“He was resting his head on his desk and a boy wrote it on his neck,” said Caylend’s mother, Ruth Childs. “I saw it when he got home and called the school after taking a picture of it.”
Childs said the incident happened on Monday.
KTVI-TV reported that school officials confirmed the incident and said that the students responsible were disciplined.
But Caylend’s mother says the slur on his body was not the worst case of bullying her son has faced at Mason Clark Middle School, she says it’s just the final straw.
Childs said that earlier this year, while Caylend was using the bathroom, another student allegedly ran in and kicked the bathroom stall in — leaving Caylend “soaked with urine.”
“My son has gone from being a…student that loves going to school,” she said, “to he wakes up every morning saying, ‘Mama, I just don’t want to go anymore.’”
In a statement, school officials said each incident has been “investigated and the students responsible were immediately disciplined according to district guidelines.”
But Childs said Caylend been “damaged” by the incidents. “It is heartbreaking for me,” she said.
A video report from KTVI-TV is here.
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okay he wasn’t branded! Saying that made me go shit they burned him!! It’s marker it comes off but SHOULD NOT BE TOLERATED!!! AT ALL!!
this just pissed me the fuck off
“In a statement, school officials said each incident has been “investigated and the students responsible were immediately disciplined according to district guidelines.” yeah way to FAIL at your appointed task!
Get your children out of Public Child Prisons!
Fucking ridiculous
Damn shame…why the fuck can’t people just leave people the hell alone. If they get so upset about someone’s orientation then it’s their problem…deal with it..just like we try to deal with idiots that want to bully and do harm.
Power to the mother! Whats wrong with the authority figures on campus?????? Principle do your job….classmates….where are you?!?
Id be in jail tonight if it were my kid.
I live about an hour away from where this happened. This is terrible, I’m so ashamed of my area.
that is just so totally wrong and to say that those that did it were “disciplined” obviously did not get the message – if anything, they should have been suspended or removed from the school permanently! If that happened to either one of my kids, I sure as Hell would not blame them if they said they didnt want to return to school!
Me too 3:)
Damn!!! : (
@Joseph there’s is more than one definition of the word branded. Websters: “To mark with disgrace or infamy; stigmatize.”
Move to Hawai’i :) We’d love to have you here!!
This need to stop!
Bless his heart. I wish I could talk to him.
He may not even be gay.
Heartbreaking. No one should have to endure such ignorance!
Just. Heinous.
Just wrong
Hm. And a majority of black churches instruct their constituents to hate gay people. Shocker.
And the teacher was where?
When I was in second grade, my teacher threw a chalkboard eraser at us if we were outta line………things like this need to stop
And yet WE are said to be the ones who are trying to “make” people “accept” us. Please let me know when you hear of a gay person bullying a straight person for being straight….
That is terrible… Don’t let them get you down! One day you’ll be intelligent &grown-up &theyll stay sad & immature.
nothing but shame, hatred, and ignorance
This is terrible. I am tired of bullies and to a child. My goodness. I have kids that are just about this age. Breaks my heart.
The choice of words they used for the article are waaaaay out of line. Branding? They didnt stick him with a hot metal iron. They shouldvee chosen their words more wisely. I dont agree with the whole bullying thing but they shouldnt mislead others with such outragious titles. I find it odd though how this was only first reported for the gay issue. Most would see it as a racial issue. I guess its how you look at it.
She needs to sign him up for Karate!!! Then we’ll see!
What the fuck!?! They wanna play like that then fine I’ll play like that and I bet others will too. Pay back is a bitch and I’ll make it more than a bitch, I’ll be their worst fucking nightmare.
I find it funny how the others are responding to this violent act by talking about and wanting to do violent acts :/
No it’s not funny Elliot. Sometimes that is all some people understand.
:`(
It won’t get solved through violence. The school might take the bullying more seriously if more parents at the school got involved. I can’t believe that at a middle school there is only one kid getting bullied. It’s the “don’t make waves” attitude among parents that allows administrators to do what they want and sweep incidents like this under the rug. Investigated….my ass. When my son was being bullied, and finally fought back, they were going to suspend him and the bully. I talked with the middle school principal and let her know what had been happening. Although I made other reports…she had no clue.
OMG Sounds like mom should picket the dang school board to force them to take action. Every child who had something to do ith should be suspended and lessons will be learned. We wonder why kids retaliate with guns. This poor child deserves to be protected and I hope he gets justice he deserves.
These hate crimes need to stop against lgbt.
Kasia Siefert
:(
And that’s when we rose as one community and showed up on their law…right?
that is so wrong :( that poor kid.
I wonder what kind, if any anti-bullying programs this school has in place? If they are doing anything, its obviously NOT enough!
Where the hell ARE THE TEACHERS??????
Omg I
Mean people suck.
This has got to STOP! Be strong baby! God got your back!
WTF!!