Queens Middle-Schooler Files Federal Lawsuit Against NYC Department of Education over Anti-Gay Bullying

A New York City Middle Schooler who suffered years of anti-gay harassment and slurs, homophobic remarks, and physical bullying has filed a federal lawsuit against the New York City Department of Education and school administrators, claiming that they failed to protect him from bias-based discrimination, intimidation and abuse.

The lawsuit alleges that the plaintiff, D.S., suffered relentless peer harassment during his sixth and seventh-grade years at I.S. 126Q, the Albert Shanker School for Visual and Performing Arts in Long Island City. According to the complaint, D.S.’s peers called him “fag” and “gay boy,” ridiculed him for “acting like a girl,” told him he would be damned to hell because of his “lifestyle,” and taunted him for having gay parents. The complaint also alleges several incidents of physical assault.

According to the lawsuit, D.S. and his family repeatedly reported the bullying to school administrators, but they failed to stop it or protect him. Rather, in response to D.S.’s reports, the Complaint alleges that school staff “accused him of fabricating the harassment, blamed him for bringing the bullying on himself by being open about his sexuality, and excused his bullies’ pronouncements that LGBT people are destined to burn in hell as a mere ‘difference of opinion’ that D.S. should learn to respect.” D.S. further alleges that even when administrators did substantiate his reports, they failed to take adequate remedial action. An administrative judge later found that DOE’s response to the bullying amounted to “callous disregard.”

“The DOE and school administrators failed this student at every level. They failed to conduct meaningful investigations in response to his constant, credible reports of bullying, and they failed to take any real action to protect a vulnerable child from severe harassment and discrimination at school,” said David Lebowitz of Kaufman Lieb Lebowitz & Frick LLP, attorneys for D.S.

The bullying grew so severe that D.S. was eventually granted an emergency safety transfer out of I.S. 126Q, according to the lawsuit, which alleges violations of Title IX, the Rehabilitation Act, and state and local anti-discrimination laws.

As a result of the Department of Education and school administrators’ failure to protect D.S., the lawsuit alleges deleterious effects to his mental health, including severe anxiety and depression, and suicidal ideation. Because D.S. is a former foster care youth who faced significant early childhood trauma and is a brain cancer survivor, the bullying he faced at school compounded and exacerbated the significant mental health struggles he was already facing, the lawsuit claims.

“It was devastating to watch my son suffer on a daily basis,” said Jason Cianciotto, D.S.’s father. “Bullying and harassment based on sexual orientation and gender identity expression is not just wrong, it’s against the law. The DOE and staff at I.S. 126 had a responsibility to follow that law and to keep my son safe. They repeatedly failed to do so and they should be held legally and publicly accountable.”

“This is not a case where the school lacked knowledge of what was happening,” said Alanna Kaufman, another attorney at Kaufman Lieb Lebowitz & Frick LLP who represents D.S. “The failure to protect D.S. in this case is inexplicable and—frankly—baffling given the documented record of complaints. No student should ever have to suffer what D.S. endured.”

KLLF attorneys David Lebowitz and Alanna Kaufman are handling the case.