Trans Student Severely Beaten by Bullies. School Does Nothing.
The victim's mother is criticizing school officials, claiming they didn't contact police or medical professionals until she intervened.
A mother in Bellingham, Washington, is lambasting school officials for the way they responded after her 16-year-old transgender son was beaten by a group of students.
Police are investigating the alleged attack, which occurred off school grounds, and are pursuing both assault and hate crime charges against several juveniles believed to have been involved in the October 22 beating, which was recorded on video and posted to social media.
The 16-year-old sophomore claims members of the group shoved, struck, and beat them repeatedly while shouting anti-trans phrases at them. The victim was able to run away and seek refuge at Bellingham High School, where they informed administrators of the attack.
Bellingham High School officials had the transgender boy call his mother, but she claims school officials did not summon police or medical aid until after she arrived at school.
“If I had not insisted that [school officials call 911] multiple times, they wouldn’t have done it,” Alyssa Ruben, the mother of the victim, told the Bellingham Herald. “I shouldn’t have had to ask. I felt that the fact that they didn’t call 911 is an absolute dereliction of their duty.”
Ruben took her son to St. Joseph Medical Center’s emergency department, where he was evaluated and released. The boy suffered facial cuts, swelling, and bruises, and currently struggles with frequent headaches and memory loss.
He is having a follow-up exam for possible traumatic brain injury stemming from the attack — which could result in lifelong negative health consequences.
Ruben said her son was jumped, without provocation, by several boys outside a business on Cornwall Avenue in Bellingham. Her son was allegedly punched, thrown against a tree, knocked to the ground, and kicked in the head multiple times while his assailants yelled out anti-trans slurs and other insults.
A friend of her son’s found a video of the attack on Instagram. Police were able to use it to help authorities identify the suspects.
“It took me a few days to realize the gravity that my child was [beaten] because they are transgender,” Ruben told AM radio station KOMO News. “The children who attacked my kid should have been expelled immediately.”
Bellingham Public Schools spokeswoman Dana Smith confirmed that school officials were aware of the attack.
“We are aware of an off-campus assault that happened on October 22. We also assisted the student and their parent in making a report to Bellingham police,” Smith told the Herald in a statement. “We continue our school-based investigation and continue to cooperate with the law enforcement investigation.
“The identity of the other individuals involved was originally unclear to school officials. As we have learned identities, we have shared that information with police. Witnesses have stepped forward, and we continue to share additional info with police. If these individuals are our students, we will also follow our district policy and procedures.”
Ruben said police appear to be taking the allegations seriously, and are seeking felony assault charges against those involved. But she is critical of school officials, whom she believed failed to protect her son and other queer students, including an older son who has already graduated.
“This is not the first time we’ve had to deal with serious bullying within the district,” she said.
“We actually have about 45 seconds of one of the videos that was recorded by one of the assailants,” Lance Preston, executive director of the Rainbow Youth Project, said of the attack. “Just in the short few seconds that we have, it was horrendous, it was horrific.”
Preston said that LGBTQ kids, especially transgender youth, often find themselves targeted for bullying or assault. The organization logged 3,748 crisis interventions from across the country in October alone. Statistics compiled by the organization show that 84% of LGBTQ students reported bullying in school, with 1 in 3 reporting physical assault.
Preston said his organization has been providing support to Ruben’s family.
“We are very impressed with the Bellingham police department, the detective there is doing everything he can to hold these people accountable,” he said. “If we let those incidents slide, we’re basically making a statement to these young people that it’s okay or it’s acceptable. It really leaves victims feeling worthless and like they’re not important and their life does not matter. We don’t want any child to feel like they’re not worthy of being safe in school, whether they’re LGBTQ or not.”
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