Canadian Court Rules
Schools Responsible For Combating Homophobia
by Rich Peters 365Gay.com from the Web, April 10, 2005
Vancouver, British Columbia, April 8 -- British Columbia's highest court has overturned a lower court ruling that said a student could not sue a school board for homophobic bullying and harassment because he is straight.
The B.C. Supreme Court said that Azmi Jubran had been the victim of anti-gay bullying for five years and that Handsworth secondary school in North Vancouver failed to stop the homophobic taunts of other students.
It also reinstated a $4,500 award set by a human rights tribunal and later quashed by a lower court.
The lower court had dismissed Jubran's allegations that he had been subjected to harassment on the basis of sexuality despite testimony he was routinely called "faggot," "homo" and "gay" while attending Handsworth Secondary from 1993 to 1998.
He had a variety of objects thrown at him and was kicked and spat upon. Students threatened to drop him in acid and to rape him with a broom.
During a school camping trip his tent was urinated on.
Principal Terry Shaw testified he had never seen a student harassed as badly as Jubran was, but with almost 13,000 students and only 70 teachers, he didn't have the resources to stop it completely.
In its decision the lower court said that because Jubran was not gay he could not claim he had been harmed by homophobia.
The ruling outraged LGBT activists.
In overturning the decision the provincial Supreme Court said the lower court had erred and there was no question that Jubran was discriminated against on the grounds of sexual orientation.
The ruling was also a warning to school boards throughout the province that they are liable for the conduct of their students.
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