App users, tap here to watch video report.
FALCONER – Students from the Falconer Central School district protested Friday against a conflict that took place at the school earlier in the week.
“Homophobia has been pretty rampant throughout the years I’ve been at Falconer, but I think the tipping point was when a student was attacked for wearing their pride flag on June 1st, and since history,” Davin Riel, a senior at Falconer and one of the organizers of the protest continues, “I’ve been called slurs frequently in the halls, I’ve been threatened with my life a few times, and commonly any time I went to stress my issues with the school districts, they’ve been ignored and they’ve been brushed off and no justice has ever been given.”
The students rallied together, marching out of the school united to begin their peaceful demonstration.
“I saw everyone marching down to the front and I was just so moved to tears,” said Falconer art teacher Loretta Cheney.
“If there is true hate in somebody’s heart, I don’t understand that. I just wanted to come and support and see these lovely faces. I’m really proud of them,” said Cheney.
According to multiple students, the district has ignored their pleas for help for far too long.
“I was told that we need to drop it and pretend it never happened,” said MacKenzie Wright, an 8th grade student at Falconer.
“I’ve been down to the principal’s office many times this year, I’ve reported so many things and nothing has been done,” Luca Benedetto, another 8th grade student at Falconer said.
The students took the initiative to call upon the district to make things right for the queer student body.
“Now what we really need from the administration is action, we need them to follow through with what they’ve been saying they’re going to do,” explained Miranda McKane, a senior at Falconer and one of the organizers of Stride for Pride.
“Falconer School needs to do better and understand that this isn’t a problem that you can just ignore. Something needs to be done” said Wright.
Community members showed their support by beeping their horns as they drove by, giving thumbs up, and waving their hands.
“Please listen, we are here. We will not go away,” said Riel.
Leave a Reply