ABOVE: Photo courtesy Lucas’ family.
A 13-year-old student, the victim of homophobia and bullying at his school, was buried Jan. 14, a week after he died by suicide. The death shook Golbey, a small town of around 8,000 people in northeastern France.
Identified only as Lucas, the young boy was a student at the Louis Armand College in Golbey.
According to the French LGBTQ media outlet Têtu.com and media outlet ici par France Bleu et France 3, Valérie Dautreme, the academic director of the national education services in the Vosges, labeled the news “terrible” and acknowledged Lucas and his mother reported “mockery” related to the teenager’s sexual orientation from the first parent-teacher meeting last fall.
While the family has yet to comment on the circumstances leading to their son’s death, Dautreme says “the situation was taken very seriously by the establishment, by the head teacher,” claiming that school staff and peer groups intervened. She then said that in regards to the initial reporting of the bullying that “for us, and I mean at this stage, the situation had been resolved: Lucas said afterwards that things had settled down, that he was no longer being teased.”
Referring to his suicide she noted, “obviously, the investigation is in progress and for the moment, these are only incomplete elements.”
“The family is destroyed by grief. The boy’s mother is asking for justice, she wants the investigation to identify those responsible so that they are punished — underlined the family’s attorney, Catherine Faivre. “Lucas had expressed that he was gay and his classmates were aware of it.”
The case drew the attention of French first lady Brigitte Macron, who has intervened taking up the cause against bullying in the nation’s schools using Lucas’ case to spotlight the need for reform and prevention.
“I am in favor of raising the awareness of teaching staff and those who work in universities and high schools to better identify cases of harassment,” Macron told Le Parisien.
A portion of the teen’s diary was publicly disclosed in which he had written “I want to end it,” press accounts noted that he kept the diary locked in his desk drawer in his bedroom. The diary’s existence was disclosed as part of the ongoing investigation into the teen’s death by Frédéric Nahon, the local prosecutor who noted in press accounts that the teenager’s diary was examined by the investigators who found there are no direct allusions to the reasons for the suicide.
Nahon said that the first interrogations of the family’s acquaintances and neighbors confirmed the existence of repeated homophobic teasing and insults. Nahon is trying to determine “the exact content of the insults, the duration over time of the bullying acts and any omissions by those who were aware of the facts.” No criminal complaints have been filed.
According to the most recent statistics every year in France 700,000 students are victims of harassment at school.
Last February France’s Parliament adopted a new law that will make school bullying a criminal offence, which either students or staff can be prosecuted for, Euronews reported.
Those found guilty under the new legislation face a €45,000 ($48,685.50) if the victim of bullying is unable to attend schools for up to eight days.
But more serious incidents can be punished with up to 10 years imprisonment and a fine of €150,000 ($162,285) for longer periods of school absence or if the victim commits suicide or attempts to.
“Homophobia kills,” openly gay Transportation Minister Clément Beaune said to French media outlets after learning of the teen’s suicide.
The Louis Armand College, which has 697 students, is involved in the national pHARe system to fight against bullying and its teachers are trained and students are also required to take classes to prevent bullying.
A crowd-fundraiser to defray funeral costs for the family was able to raise €7,554 ($8,182.76).
The Trevor Project provides a safe, judgment-free place to talk for LGBTQ youth at 1-866-488-7386.
If you or anyone you love is experiencing mental health issues or suicidal thoughts, please reach out for help. You can call or text the number 988, which will direct you to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. It is free and available 24 hours a day.
The National LGBT Media Association represents 13 legacy publications in major markets across the country with a collective readership of more than 400K in print and more than 1 million + online. Learn more here: NationalLGBTMediaAssociation.com.
