New England Briefs

AG accuses teenager of antigay violence

HOLBROOK - Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly filed a civil rights complaint yesterday against a 17-year-old Holbrook boy who allegedly harassed and attacked another teen in a pattern of antigay intimidation. The 17-year-old allegedly attacked his victim in the Holbrook High School cafeteria on Feb. 9, punching him on the head at least five times. The complaint said the victim had been taunted and harassed for five months beforehand.

From:SARATOGANY@aol.com
Date:Tue, 9 May 2000 21:00:53 EDT
Subject:MA:AG Files Complaint, Gay Student Viciously Beaten in School

Msg fwd by:
The Coalition for Safer Schools of NYS, PO Box 2345, Malta, NY 12020
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"The Actual or Perceived GLBT Student Protection Project"
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Boston herald
http://www.bostonherald.com

Civil rights complaint filed in alleged gay attack
by Franci Richardson
Tuesday, May 9, 2000

Attorney General Thomas Reilhas filed a civil rights complaint against a Holbrook teen accused of taunting and ``viciously'' beating a classmate because he's gay.

Reilly yesterday asked a Norfolk Superior Court judge to order Joseph T. DeGrazia, 17, to stay away from Jason Hair, 18, who was allegedly punched five or six times in the head Feb. 9 in the Holbrook High School cafeteria, officials said.

``Everyone should have the right to go to school without the threat of intimidation or harassment,'' said Richard Gordon, an assistant attorney general. ``It's against the law to engage in the type of conduct the defendant engaged in, but (this makes it so) we can stop it from happening again.''

Five months of harassment, Gordon said, boiled over that Wednesday afternoon when DeGrazia confronted him after hearing Hair wanted to stab him for months of taunting.

DeGrazia allegedly punched Hair in the head, knocking him to the floor. Hair, who said he would never have stabbed DeGrazia, suffered from internal bleeding and a severe ear injury, Gordon said.

Yesterday, Hair had mixed feelings about the complaint.

``I don't want to forget about it and I want him to know he can't hurt others, but I don't want to hurt him either,'' he said. ``I know he wants to go in the military, but if this is on his record, he may not be able to.''

Reached at home yesterday, DeGrazia, who has transferred to another high school, said he wasn't aware of the complaint and directed questions to his attorney, Rocky DiFazio of Weymouth. DiFazio didn't return a call.

DeGrazia's harassment, said Hair, began this year when both were in the same history class.

``I noticed he would say things like `homo.' He'd do the limp wrist thing or walk all like prissy,'' Hair said yesterday.

A hearing on Reilly's request will be held May 24.

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