Posted on 03/14/2014 10:40:04 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd
BUNCOMBE COUNTY, N.C. (WRIC)—A North Carolina mother whose son has been bullied for bringing a “My Little Pony” bag to class says school officials now won’t let him bring the bag to school.
Grayson Bruce is a big fan of “My Little Pony,” a cartoon that emphasizes to children that “friendship is magic.” But his interest has caused the 9-year-old to be bullied at school; his classmates say his favorite toy is for girls.
“They’re taking it a little too far, with punching me, pushing me down, calling me horrible names, stuff that really shouldn’t happen,” Bruce told WLOS News13, an ABC affiliate in Asheville, N.C. “Most of the characters in the show are girls, and most of the people put it toward girls, most of the toys are girlie.”
Noreen Bruce supports her son’s love of the show saying, “It’s promoting friendship, there [are] no bad words, there’s no violence; it’s hard to find that, even in cartoons now.”
Grayson even has his own following on Facebook, after a friend created a support page for him. Profile pictures of a gray pony with glasses and the message “<3 for Grayson” are circulating on Facebook.
Last week, Grayson’s school asked him to leave his Rainbow Dash bag at home, because officials felt it was a distraction and a “trigger for bullying.”
Noreen Bruce disagrees with the school’s request and wants her son’s bullies to be punished for their actions.
“Saying a lunchbox is a trigger for bullying is like saying a short skirt is a trigger for rape,” she said. “It’s flawed logic; it doesn’t make any sense.”
Buncombe County Schools declined an interview with WLOS News13 but said in a statement, “an initial step was taken to immediately address a situation that had created a disruption in the classroom. Buncombe County Schools takes bullying very seriously, and we will continue to take steps to resolve this issue.”
Grayson Bruce isn’t the only North Carolina “Brony”—a popular term used to describe male “My Little Pony” fans—to make headlines for being bullied about his interest in the show. In January, 11-year-old Michael Morones, of Wake County, tried to commit suicide because he was tormented at school for his love of “My Little Pony.” Morones hung himself off the side of his bunk bed.
“Eleven to 15-year-old boys are very much at risk for thinking about suicide when they’re perceived as being gay,” bullying prevention expert Nancy Mullin told WTVD.
According to ABC affiliate WTVD in Raleigh, Morones has been moved out of the intensive care unit at WakeMed; he will eventually be transported to a facility that can assist with brain trauma and neurological rehabilitation.
“The missing piece here is what the school is doing about this,” Mullin said, adding that while North Carolina is one of 49 states with bullying prevention laws, she doesn’t feel enough is being done to implement successful programs.
I’ll bet Obama is a brony..
Hey I never watched the show so I can’t comment on it. However why would they ban the kid from having a bag with a pony on it? Not like it’s GI Joe holding a gun?
Home school the kid and tell the public skool system what it can do with itself.
What’s REALLY sad? A poll at the link.
Do you think Grayson Bruce should be allowed to bring his “My Little Pony” bag to school, despite the teasing?
_____________________________________________________________
DON’T LOOK - Guess. How many people think little Grayson should be allowed to bring his MLP bag?
50%? 75%? More?
This is kind of sad.
My Little Pony is appealing to my 9-year-old son, but his sisters teased him without mercy so he gave it up.
Maybe we could all learn to live and let live a little.
His classmates are correct on that particular point.
Ridiculous.
He needs to be bullied. Someone needs to take that my little pony horsecrap and burn it and give this kid an Aqua Man and a BB gun... couple Tonka trucks and some GI Joes.
If you paint your hair orange and dress up like a clown and walk down the street... do you think everyone will just ignore you?
His parents are setting this kid up for a lifetime of therapy for his ‘mental problems’.
“Be yourself” OK... be yourself. But don’t come crying when NORMAL people tell you that you are an idiot.
Yes my son was a fan too. Also went to school in Bucombe County NC.
I’ve got a kid in my Scout Troop who’s a ‘Brony’. One of the best kids I’ve got. Super smart, hates school and socializing with other people, but he’s always got a smile on his face.
We got a laptop for him, replete with the latest MS and Cisco developer tools, plus training on HTML, CSS, Ruby, Python, C-Sharp, etc.
The idea is to see if we can get him to GED out into a tech job locally and bypass the High School Horse sh!t.
Kid’s father is an Army Ranger, so that’s out. Two parent home. Mom’s got severe ADHD and other sensory issues related to autism.
Kid’s in the honor society too.
Dad races motorcycles, is in the NRA, staunch conservative, and Christian.
Sometimes its nature.
As the parent of an 8 year old boy A) I don’t know that he’d want to carry something he knew was going to get him picked on or B) that I’d send him to school with something I knew would get him picked on..
No one should be picked on, period.
And if the boy is gay, that is no excuse, because that’s no different than picking on a retarded kid.
Either
A) There is no father in the home
B) The father is a useless wet liberal dish rag.
A male would be viscerally excoriated if he said the same thing, "she was just asking for it, dressed like that."
I say let the kid take the damn thing to school and let nature take its course.
He’ll either learn to leave it at home all by himself or he’ll teach the bullies to leave him alone.
It;s dumb. This is not a bullying issue at all. This is a PARENTING issue, and this kids parents are failing him. The mother sounds like a lib.
Now, being an adult man into it is an entirely different ballgame.
I stirred up a nest of feminists on twitter a few days ago when I suggested that dildos should be banned because they’re just a representation of a “rape tool” like a toy gun is a representation of a “murder tool”.
And any girl who likes guns is a dyke and should be bullied too?
I’d say all the hype/drama created over this will make it harder for the phase to pass. The kid might feel obligated to carry it since everyone made such a big deal out of it.
Heck, if the kid would just say he’s queer or a tranny the school would buy him a REAL pony
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