University of Richmond UR Scholarship Repository Law Student Publications School of Law 2013 Spelling Out LGBT: Enumerating Sexual Orientation in Virginia's Bullying Law Melissa Wright University of Richmond Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.richmond.edu/law-student-publications Part of the Civil Rights and Discrimination Commons, and the Sexuality and the Law Commons Recommended Citation Melissa Wright, Spelling Out LGBT: Enumerating Sexual Orientation in Virginia's Bullying Law, 47 U. Rich. L. Rev. 1373 (2013). This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the School of Law at UR Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Law Student Publications by an authorized administrator of UR Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. SPELLING OUT LGBT: ENUMERATING SEXUAL ORIENTATION IN VIRGINIA'S ANTI-BULLYING LAW INTRODUCTION "Faggot." It was the word that followed fifteen-year-old gay student Justin Aaberg through the halls of his Minnesota high school.' Through his middle school years and the beginning of high school, students bullied Justin by pushing him into lockers, telling him he was going to hell for being gay, and even sexually assaulting him.! Justin hoped that the bullying would diminish as he progressed into high school but found that the torment contin- ued, aided by adults and local churches.3 Although he had come out to his supportive mother, Justin felt as though he could not burden his family with his issues at school while the family struggled through bankruptcy and home foreclosure.4 Finally, the bullying and pressure became too much for Justin-his mother found him hanging in his room the summer after his freshman year of high school.' Justin's death was one of nine suicides that occurred in his school district in a less than two-year period.' Four of those students were openly lesbian, gay, bisexual or transsexual ("LGBT"), or perceived to be LGBT, and all were bul- lied.7 Bullying has long been a problem in American schools.