Federal Court Sustains KLLF's Homophobic Bullying Lawsuit Against NYC Department of Education and Queens Middle School

On April 22, 2022, Manhattan federal judge Paul A. Engelmayer issued a 44-page opinion sustaining a lawsuit filed last year by KLLF on behalf of Jason Cianciotto against the New York City Department of Education. Mr. Cianciotto’s son, D.S., was relentlessly bullied after coming out as gay while attending a public middle school in Queens from 2017 to 2019. As the decision details:

D.S. was ruthlessly bullied within I.S. 126Q for his sexuality and gender expression. He was regularly called derogatory names — including "fag," “faggot,” “faggot ass,” “homo,” “gay kid,” “gay boy,” “bitch,” “gay bitch,” and “pussy dick sucking face.” He was told that it was “so sad” that he had two dads — who were “shit” and a “mistake created by Jesus” — and that he “should have a mom.” Rumors spread that D.S. had kissed his male friends and had boyfriends, and that his dads gave “blowjobs in the backyard.” Students made crude sexual jokes about D.S. . . . and asked whether his drawings depicted his dads having sex. They told him not to act “like a girl.” They outed him without his consent. They teased that D.S.'s dying grandfather was likely gay, just like D.S. Even D.S.’s friends became subject to harassment due to their association with D.S.

Mr. Cianciotto's case alleges that teachers and administrators at the school turned a blind eye to the bullying, failing to meaningfully document and investigate instances of harassment and accusing D.S. of fabricating or provoking the bullying instead of intervening to stop it. An independent hearing officer previously found that DOE “turned a blind eye” to D.S.’s plight and that school staff acted with “callous disregard” in failing to protect him. D.S. was ultimately forced to change schools to escape the torment. 

Judge Engelmayer rejected a motion to toss the suit, calling the school’s attempts to defend its response to the bullying “unsustainable.” The decision ruled that KLLF’s lawsuit plausibly alleges “long-running inattention, inaction, and deflection by the defendants,” and that “school officials turned a blind eye to the harassment D.S. was experiencing, doing little, if anything, to protect him.” The court remarked that “the facts alleged make out a textbook case of deliberate indifference.”

The case remains pending, with discovery underway and depositions set to begin later this spring. KLLF’s David Lebowitz and Alanna Kaufman represent Mr. Cianciotto.