Viral Video of Teen Punching Classmate Draws Attention to Anti-Gay Bullying

Nearly 60 percent of LGBTQ youth feel unsafe at school because of their sexual orientation, according to a survey from a education advocacy group

A viral video of a gay teen punching a classmate who had allegedly been harassing him underscores “a systemic failure” to address the prevalence of anti-LGBTQ bullying in schools, according to some experts and advocates.

The video shows gay student Jordan Steffy, a junior at LaPorte High School in Indiana, yelling at a classmate who can be seen slowly walking toward him. Steffy can be heard telling the other student to stop calling him a “f----t,” to which the classmate responds by using the slur repeatedly, NBC News reports.

In the video — which has been widely shared on Twitter since it was first posted by Steffy on Friday — the gay teen can then be seen shoving and punching the other student.

At the end of the video, an off-camera voice, widely assumed to be that of a teacher, can be heard saying, “Whoa, whoa, whoa whoa. Hey, Jordan,” presumably telling Steffy to stop hitting his classmate. It is unclear, however, what led up to the recorded incident.

The anti-gay taunting seen in the video was not an isolated incident, according to Steffy's mother.

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