News

Gay former student files bias suit against Onteora school district

Published: Wednesday, February 22, 2012

By WILLIAM J. KEMBLE
Correspondent

BOICEVILLE, N.Y. — Former Onteora High School student Liam Kahn is suing the school district, alleging administrators knowingly allowed classmates to bully him based on his sexual orientation.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court, claims the bullying continued for five years, ending only when Kahn dropped out of school last year. He was scheduled to graduate this June.

“This is a classic case of a school district’s inability to deal with bullying,” said Kahn’s attorney, Stephen Bergstein.

“What makes this case unique is that Liam Kahn is gay,” Bergstein said. “A lot of these cases involved gender, race, sometimes disability. You don’t see too many cases that involve gay bullying, but it’s always the same pattern. The kid is bullied, they complain, the school district drops the ball repeatedly.”

The lawsuit names the school district, Onteora High School Principal Lance Edelman and Vice Principal Jess Robertson as defendants.

District officials were not immediately available for comment on Tuesday.

Kahn, 18, who last month was named deputy supervisor for the town of Woodstock, has worked as an intern for U.S. Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-Hurley.

Court papers state that Kahn had been bullied since September 2006, when he was in the seventh grade.

“After classmates found out (Kahn was gay) ... students routinely called him queer, faggot and c---sucker in the hallways and elsewhere on school property,” his attorney wrote.

The suit contends that while former middle school Principal Gale Kavanagh did discipline students who harassed Kahn, including suspending one student who later was arrested by state police, there were some teachers who did not respond even when witnessing the harassment. Continued...

“When (Kahn) was in eighth grade, in an attempt to halt the continuous bullying, (he) attempted to start up a Gay-Straight Alliance,” his attorney wrote. “However, despite (his) attempt to raise awareness among his fellow students, students regularly (told) him that ‘bullying is part of growing up, you’re being a wimp.’ These comments were made in the presence of teachers and hall monitors.”

The complaint also contends high school officials told Kahn there was a reactive approach to bullying and cases would be addressed only as they occurred.

“During the 2009-10 school year ... the bullying and harassment became more poisonous,” Kahn’s attorney wrote. “(Kahn) was subjected to anti-gay comments from classmates between one and two dozen times a day in the hallway and in classrooms. ... For example, when (Kahn) had several bouts of illness in 2009, one student (identified as T.B.) asked if he had AIDS.”

The suit says Kahn left school “suffering from anxiety, frustration, worry and feelings of victimization by peers” and was “so distraught over the harassment and ridicule that he went several days without sleep.”

Bergstein said the suit does nto seek specific damages. He said the amount will be left for the jury to decide if the district is found liable.

Editor's note: This story was modified 10:25 AM 02-22-12 to correct the projected graduation date of Liam Kahn before he dropped out of school, an error brought to our attention by a reader.