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Antigay School Beating Caught on Tape

By Lucas Grindley

A brutal case of antigay bullying in an Ohio high school has been caught by cell phone video and is emblematic of violence experienced or feared by LGBT students every day.
The video catches the attacker waiting for the gay student, a 15-year-old boy named in the report as "Zack" by ABC's WSYX in Ohio. The station interviewed the victim's mother, who describes what she saw of the vicious beating on tape.

"The boy stood there and waited on him, and waited on him, and waited on him," she told WSYX. "And then as soon as he walks in the door, the boy hits him. Zack walks away, 'What did I do? Why are you doing this?' And he keeps walking away."

But then the boy grabs Zack, stands over him on the ground and delivers at least seven punches in quick succession, the smacks audible on the tape.The mother told the station that her son might have a concussion and chipped teeth, and that she wants that attack pursued as a "hate crime." The mother is certain it was motivated by her son being gay."It's my son," she said, "and they did it just because he's a homosexual.""I was waiting for somebody," says the boy, whose identity is hidden in the news report. "I covered myself, I shielded my body, and he just kept hitting me and nobody did anything."The station reports that antigay comments were made on the attacker's Facebook page two days earlier.