Mother: Gay Son Suffered Brutal Harassment at 4-h Camp

Harassment at 4-H Camp
Mother Says Gay Son Was Tortured at Camp

RIPLEY, W.Va. (WSAZ) — A mother from Jackson County, W.Va., says her teenage son was brutally harassed at summer 4-H camp because he’s gay.

“He was unconscionable, he was, he could barely speak,” says the boy’s mother, Valera White.

White said the language was so vile that she can’t categorize what was said. In fact, she didn’t find out what these campers said until the police report was filed.

The catch is that police can not do much because there is no law that protects White’s 15-year-old son from what happened. West Virginia does not include sexual orientation in its hate crimes law.

The family said what happened at camp isn’t their first experience with being ridiculed because their teenage son is gay. Doing things like going to the grocery store have become enormous tasks for White and her son because the taunting seems unending.

White’s son says he cannot go to the movies anymore. When asked if he wanted to tell WSAZ.com what kind of comments people made to him, he said, “it’s not worth it.”

A spokeswoman for the 4H camp says that the two boys in question were sent home from camp, though the family says there were actually three people.

The spokesperson also says 4H always works to create an environment for children to feel safe. She says that counselors were nearby during the attack.

See Mother: Gay Son Suffered Brutal Harassment at Camp WSAZ-TV

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Same-sex marriage doesn’t cost justices

Unfolding in the state Senate today: a proxy battle over same-sex marriage.

The Senate just reconfirmed three justices of the Connecticut Supreme Court, all of whom were among the five-member majority in Kerrigan v. Department of Public Health, which ruled the state’s ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional.

There were objections to the justices from some Republicans, with many citing concerns about what they view as relative loose constructionism in interpretation of the state Constitution. But there wasn’t enough to make a difference.

Associate Justices Flemming L. Norcott Jr., Joette Katz and Richard N. Palmer were all confirmed by the same vote total: 28-7, with one senator absent. (The missing senator is Sen. Thomas Gaffey, D-Meriden, who has been absent from the Capitol since the death of his teenage son earlier this month.)

This conclusion isn’t hugely surprising. Senators don’t toss out Supreme Court justices all that often.

And the rumors of some grave comeuppance for those who support same-sex marriage have been, like those of Twain’s death, greatly exaggerated. Lobbying efforts to open the state constitution to a new convention (and thus to direct-initiative lawmaking and a gay marriage ban) or to unseat the pro-marriage chairmen of the Judiciary Committee have come up short.

See Same-sex marriage doesn’t cost justices
TheDay – New London,CT,USA