By Airam Fernández, from Santiago, Chile. A 12-year-old boy, a student at the San Lázaro de La Salle School in Santiago, was the victim of homophobic bullying and physical violence for almost five months. His parents decided to withdraw him from the school and make the case public with a press conference at the headquarters of the Movement for Homosexual Integration and Liberation (Movilh) on Thursday evening. The boy enrolled in April after a move that involved transferring him from his previous school, where he “never had any problems,” his mother said. At La Salle, the aggression began on the very first day. “His classmates wouldn’t let him eat in peace at lunchtime, they threw food in his face, harassed him when he went to the bathroom, took his backpack and notebooks, and called him ‘the faggot.’ They even kicked him on the ground many times,” she recounted.

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The critical incident occurred on August 1st, when a teacher asked him to watch the key to one of the classrooms during lunchtime. He was then chased and attacked by 20 classmates who wanted to force him to open the door early. He refused, and the scene culminated in a chase throughout the school until he managed to take refuge in a laboratory, where he was found in tears. “He remembers them yelling 'we have to beat up the faggot,' among other insults that I won't repeat here,” his mother said.

“The school never gave us an answer. Nobody did anything.”

On a sheet of notebook paper, the boy tried to recount what he had experienced. He even identified his attackers by name. In the center, he wrote, “Please do something.” “He gave that letter to a teacher, but the school did nothing. Then we asked for a formal explanation, and they never responded,” said the father. They also complained about the parents of those involved: “The children aren't to blame because they are children. Their parents, on the other hand, are, because they are responsible for raising them and have misinformed them about such an important issue as diversity. And so far, none of them have come to apologize or ask how our son is,” he lamented. On the recommendation of psychiatrists and psychologists, he was withdrawn from La Salle on August 7th and will finish the school year with independent exams and homeschooling with private tutors, a study method approved by the Chilean Ministry of Education. “The main reason is that he has severe emotional damage, fear of returning to school, anxiety, low self-esteem, nightmares, among other problems,” the mother stated.

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From 2002 to 2017, 100 complaints of harassment, abuse, or bullying affecting 500 LGBTI students and teachers were filed in Chile, according to the book "Sumando Libertades" (Adding Freedoms), published by the Ibero-American Network for LGBTI Education, in which Movilh (Movement for Homosexual Integration and Liberation) participated in compiling the local data. The study indicates that 61% of the student population reports having been discriminated against, including by teachers. Mónica Arias, a lawyer with Movilh, stated that they will continue to support this family in future legal actions "so that the case does not go unpunished." The complaint has already been formally filed with the Superintendency of Education. Presentes contacted the school, but the authorities declined to comment. Yesterday, they issued a statement to “clarify the situation”: “The established protocols were followed, and reports on the incident were submitted to the Superintendency of Education and the Ministry of Education, who will determine whether our actions were lawful.” They also stated that, as an institution, they “base their work on an Evangelizing Educational Project whose primary purpose is the Christian formation and education of its members, promoting the practical development of the values ​​of faith, fraternity, service, respect, solidarity, and responsibility.”