High School
Cheerleader Quits Over Gay Taunts
Platte Valley Junior Upset Over Treatment
By Fellow Students
TheDenverChannel.com
from the Web, October 18, 2005
KERSEY, Colo. -- A male cheerleader
at Platte Valley High School in Weld County has quit because he said he's been
taunted by other classmates who called him gay.
Cole Graves said the team's picture was posted last week on the Platte Valley
High School Web site with the words "I'M GAY" underneath the two male members of
the cheerleading squad.
Graves says the abuse has been going on for three or four months.
The picture was removed from the school's Web site once the school was notified.
"As soon as we found it, I had the picture pulled," Superintendent Glen McClain
told the Greeley Tribune. "We were able to identify the person responsible
for it, and we will take appropriate action."
Graves' mother, Kim Albreicht, said her son complained of other students calling
him names and told the newspaper that some students were starting fights with
him.
Graves said that on Friday four male students were waiting to beat him up
because they thought he was gay.
The high school junior said he reported the abuse the cheerleader coaches and
then to the athletic director.
"I know I'm not gay," he told the Tribune. "It's probably harder for a
person who is gay and has to be called names. I feel so sorry for them."
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