AG BRINGS CIVIL RIGHTS ACTION AGAINST CALAIS STUDENT IN ANTI-GAY ASSAULT AT SCHOOL

August 3, 2004

AUGUST 3, 2004

CHRISTINA MOYLAN, ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL, 207-626-8838

 

            Attorney General Steven Rowe today announced that his office has filed a civil enforcement action in Washington County Superior Court under the Maine Civil Rights Act against a Calais high school student.  The AG’s suit alleges that on March 8, 2004, the defendant, who is a minor, pushed, punched, and head-butted the victim, another Calais High School student who the defendant believed to be gay.

The defendant stated multiple times starting in early March of this year that he intended to fight the victim after hearing rumors that the victim was gay.  The defendant challenged the victim to meet him in the school weight room to fight.  When the victim did not show up, the defendant sought him out in the cafeteria and committed the violent assault. 

The Attorney General’s complaint seeks to permanently enjoin the defendant from any further threats or acts of violence, property damage, or trespass against the victim or others motivated by bias.

Attorney General Rowe said, “The primary purpose of civil rights education and enforcement is to ensure that schools will be safe for Maine students.  We must meet an in-school, bias-motivated attack with the full measure of our Civil Rights Act enforcement power.”

Attorney General Rowe commended the Calais Police Department for its investigation of the incident.  The department referred the case to Rowe’s office for this action under the Maine Civil Rights Act.

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