An Oklahoma special needs student’s parents say their son’s fifth-grade teacher encouraged students to use an anti-gay slur directed at their son when he was roughhousing with another boy.
Amber and Jonathon Stepp, of Talihina, Oklahoma, say their son came home from school to ask his dad what the slur meant, to which Jonathon responded that ‘we don’t use those words.’ He then explained the meaning of the slur and the 11-year-old started crying.
“He asked me, ‘Daddy, why would you call me that?'” Jonathon told Fort Smith, Arkansas-based CBS affiliate KFSM. “I didn’t have an answer for my son.”
Their son said he had been wrestling and roughhousing with another boy, and that the teacher had encouraged the other student to use the slur against him.
The Stepps had more questions about the incident, so they went to the Talihina Elementary School principal, the superintendent, and the teacher for answers.
Amber Stepp says she recorded a phone conversation with the teacher in question, playing the recording for KFSM.
In the recording, the teacher is heard saying, “Two of the boys were wrestling with each other, and one of them started yelling, saying, ‘He’s touching me, he’s touching me,’ and I said, ‘Yeah, when he does that, yell “f** alert.”‘”
The Stepps say they were shocked by the teacher’s behavior.
“I never expected it to happen to anyone, let alone my own child,” Jonathon Stepp said. “I’m supposed to trust this professional to teach my son positive things, not hatred.”
KFSM confirmed that the Talihina Public School District launched an investigation, during which the Stepps’ son was sent home and could not receive the special ed services he requires.
In a statement, the school district claimed it had taken “appropriate action.”
“Talihina Public Schools values and takes student and employee safety very seriously. We have received this complaint and, in response, have completed an investigation and taken appropriate action,” the statement reads. “This teacher does remain employed in our school district. We cannot comment further as this involves confidential personnel and confidential student information.”
Amber Stepp said her son was then told to either return to the same classroom, or the option of an all-girl classroom. They school’s fifth grade is the only grade that separates students by their gender.
“It’s completely inappropriate to expect a child that’s been bullied by the teacher to return to that classroom, and completely inappropriate to put him in the middle of an all-girl classroom,” she said. “I feel like the school has completely failed all the children that has been affected by this.”
The Stepps added that they have reached out to the Oklahoma Department of Education and are waiting for it to complete its investigation.
The Rainbow Youth Project USA says calls to its suicide prevention hotline from LGBTQ youth in Oklahoma spiked by more than 200% following the much-publicized death of nonbinary teenager Nex Benedict.
According to the organization, the hotline typically fields an average of 325 calls per month from LGBTQ youth in Oklahoma. But after news of Benedict's death began to spread, the volume of calls from Oklahomans spiked by 238%, reaching 1,097 calls for the month.
To handle the increased volume, Rainbow Youth Project USA created a rapid response team to assist troubled youth and parents calling in, particularly from Owasso, where Benedict lived.
Michael Everts, the owner of FIT Personal Training on 17th and Q Streets NW, pleaded not guilty to a charge of distributing child pornography.
Everts was arrested last November after allegedly sending pornographic photographs of prepubescent boys and videos of men sexually abusing children via Telegram to an undercover agent posing as a pedophile.
Court documents claim the FBI was alerted to Everts months earlier after an employee of the location-based hookup app, Sniffies, told investigators that a user -- later identified as Everts through his email and phone information -- had allegedly "actively underage ."
Nex Benedict, the 16-year-old nonbinary student in Oklahoma who died a day after being involved in a violent physical altercation at their high school, died as a result of suicide, according to an autopsy report.
According to a summary report from the Oklahoma Medical Examiner's Office, Benedict died of "combined toxicity" caused by an interaction between diphenhydramine, also known as Benadryl, an anti-allergy medication, and fluoxetine, a drug used to treat depression that is more commonly known as Prozac.
It remains unclear, based on publicly released information, how much Benedict took of those drugs to trigger a toxic chemical reaction. A spokesperson for the Oklahoma Medical Examiner's Office was not immediately available for comment.
These are challenging times for news organizations. And yet it’s crucial we stay active and provide vital resources and information to both our local readers and the world. So won’t you please take a moment and consider supporting Metro Weekly with a membership? For as little as $5 a month, you can help ensure Metro Weekly magazine and MetroWeekly.com remain free, viable resources as we provide the best, most diverse, culturally-resonant LGBTQ coverage in both the D.C. region and around the world. Memberships come with exclusive perks and discounts, your own personal digital delivery of each week’s magazine (and an archive), access to our Member's Lounge when it launches this fall, and exclusive members-only items like Metro Weekly Membership Mugs and Tote Bags! Check out all our membership levels here and please join us today!