Robin Tomlin, of
British Columbia, has received a letter of apology from the North Vancouver
School District for a homophobic slur that was printed in his high school
yearbook.
Forty-two years
ago,
The letter, signed
by the district’s superintendent of schools, says, “I am writing to formally
provide you with a sincere apology on behalf of the entire North Vancouver
School District.”
Tomlin says he's
been haunted for years after his high school yearbook committee printed the
word "fag" next to his picture in the 1970 Argyle Secondary School
yearbook. That would be disgusting, in any case, but Tomlin isn’t gay, and yet,
after that slur, he was subjected to near constant bullying in school. He didn’t
even attend his school prom out of fear of being beaten up, and he eventually
moved out of the area to start a new life.
Tomlin he tried to
put the incident behind him, and was successful; in fact, he tried for several
years to have the school district print a replacement page for the copies in
its library, but his request fell on deaf ears until he hired an attorney. That
was when the school sent him an email saying they regretted the incident.
Forty-two years
later.
Today, Robin Tomlin
is dying of terminal liver disease and he wants what he calls a sincere
apology: "I want a face-to-face apology. They could write anything they
want in an email and send it to me. It doesn't mean as much."
And he may get that last wish. Superintendent Lewis has offered to arrange a
private meeting “to provide an apology in person” but before that happens, some
details still need to be worked out.
Tomlin had asked
the school district to pay his travel expenses, but a district spokesperson says
the district can't afford to do that. So, Robin Tomlin will pay his own way
back home to finally get that long-overdue apology.
Forty-two years later.
Bob,
ReplyDeleteI am of two minds abou this incident. First if someone printed "Fag" next to my yearbook picture now I couldn't care less. However, back in the homophobic Fifties, maybe it would have traumatized me. I was called "fairy" once in the lunchroom and I remember how much that upset me. Years later I discovered they guys who called me fairy didn't know, they were just using that derisive term as an insult. Perhaps that's what this man's classmates did to him. But to have it printed in his yearbook? Unforgiveable.
Ron
Interestingly I started school in that school district but left at age 9. He would have been about 3-4 years ahead of me.
ReplyDeleteIt is sickening to me that the yearbook committee would do that to someone. What about the faculty adviser? He he/she complicit or just negligent?
ReplyDeleteDespicable. The capacity human beings have for cruelty and ugliness sometimes seems endless. It is very disheartening.
ReplyDelete