Gay Teen Now Fights Civil Charges - From Her Attackers

A high school student accused of a hate crime attack by a gay classmate on the day their school observed the Day of Silence now wishes to swear out a perjury complaint against her accuser.

The alleged attack took place April 16 in Kentucky. April 16 was also the National Day of Silence, when GLTB youth and their supporters in schools across the country vow not to speak outside of class as a means of illustrating the powerlessness and voicelessness they feel.

The four girls involved in the April 16 incident were friends at the time, reported local newspaper the Lexington Leader-Herald on April 22, and the young lesbian woman's sexual orientation was not a secret. On the day of the alleged attack, students at the girls' school, Jackson Country High School, had worn stickers proclaiming their participation in the Day of Silence; other students, the paper said, countered by wearing anti-gay stickers. The school's principal ordered that all the stickers be removed, to avoid confrontations from erupting.

Two of the girls accused in the case are 18 years old, Ashley N. Sams and Corrine M. Schwab. The third, unidentified in media reports because she is a minor, is 17. The three girls reportedly drove 18-year-old Cheyenne Williams to an area known as Flat Lick Falls, where they allegedly threatened her and tried to push her off a cliff. Williams recorded some of what happened on her cell phone. Lawyers for the suspects called the assault "staged," and said that Williams went with them willingly; Williams' mother, Dee Johnson, called the incident a hate crime, but officials said that there was no evidence of that, and speculated that it was a prank that had spun out of control.

Williams said that she had thought her friends were joking, but then had grown frightened; she claims that she was kidnapped and assaulted, and that the girls tried to kill her by tossing her over a cliff. According to Williams, she managed to escape the girls. They later found her and forced her back into their vehicle. The girls warned her to keep quiet before allowing her to go free, Williams said.

But media accounts say that all four girls had set out to create a video, and the attack was pure performance. The Herald-Leader noted that Williams was allegedly laughing throughout the video she made on her cell phone.

Accused classmate Corinne Schwab sought to bring perjury charges against Williams by swearing out a private party complaint, which is essentially one individual leveling criminal charges against another, the Leader-Herald reported June 8. Although such complaints are usually easy to file, in this case the fact that the accused in a crime seeks to swear out such a complaint against the alleged victim complicates the matter, the newspaper reported.

A second accused attacker, Ashley Sams, also indicated a wish to swear out a complaint against Williams for perjury. Kentucky Equality Federation head Jordan Palmer called the threatened complaints a "scare tactic." The Kentucky Equality Federation has sought FBI involvement in the case, the newspaper said.

Anti-gay groups have criticized have criticized the Day of Silence as mere politics by gays and LGBT advocates, but have further politicized the day by encouraging parents to pull their children out of schools where the event is allowed to take place. Students are allowed to refuse to speak when not called on in class; students participating in the Day of Silence do respond when called on in class, but refuse to speak outside of class, handing out pre-printed cards explaining that their silence symbolizes the lack of voice that GLBT youth experience.

Anti-gay groups tell parents that the Day of Silence is a form of inculcation designed to promote a "gay agenda." Talking points posted by anti-gay groups claim that homosexuality is a "choice" of "lifestyle," and deny that homosexuality is an ineradicable part of a person's identity. Anti-gay groups also claim that the expression of anti-gay views should not be identified as a form of bullying. Prejudice against gays, the groups claim, is not equivalent to racism, since gays can "choose" to be heterosexual.

By encouraging parents to pull their children from school for the day, anti-gay groups hope to hurt schools' bottom line, since schools are funded based on attendance. However, advocates for safe schools note that anti-gay harassment causes many GLBT students to cut classes and eventually to drop out completely.