Darnell Dynasty Young, Gay Student, Uses Stun Gun On Bullies, Faces Expulsion

Darnell “Dynasty” Young, a 17-year-old gay student at Arsenal Tech High School in Indianapolis, Ind., could be expelled after he used a stun gun on bullies he says were about to beat him up.

The teenager spoke to The Indianapolis Star about his bullying ordeal, discussung how he was regularly the target of homophobic remarks. Classmates, claims Young, even threw rocks at him, while mocking his flamboyant dress sense. Chelisa Grimes, Young’s mother, says the school let her son down, essentially placing the blame on Darnell for being “openly gay.”

When six students allegedly surrounded Young on April 16 and threatened to harm the teen, Young produced a stun gun given to him by his mother, and fired it in the air to ward off the students. The scene ended with Young being handcuffed by police, and he now faces a hearing that will decide his future at the school.

This case is deeply similar to a predicament earlier in April, when a 10-year-old male student in Cincinnati, Ohio brought a BB gun to school to scare bullies who reportedly teased him about his ankle braces.

And in March, Asante Cotman, a junior at Charles City High School in Charles City County, Va., refused school officials’ order to remove the high heels he was wearing. He was suspended for three days and later told WWBT-TV:

“I’m not advertising. I’m being myself. I want to be able to be a regular student. A gay regular student that attends CCHS.”

In Cotman’s case, the school said Cotman’s heels presented a safety issue, and that the same rule would have applied to any student with such footwear, regardless of gender or orientation.

[Via The Indianpolis Star]