The story I first blogged about� yesterday concerning a straight high school student who claimed to have been expelled for showing his film project “Brokeback High” turns out to be nothing but a hoax.
The student, Brandon Flyte, is a real person and a real student. The film was also real. The school getting upset over the clip of the two male characters embracing in bed (pictured right) is also real. The expulsion which Flyte claimed was because of that clip is not real, however.
The truth about the hoax is told in an article by The Oregonian� and more is available at Towleroad.
From the post at Towleroad:
However, now the teens claims of expulsion have thrown the school into chaos because of the resulting anger generated by Flyte’s false claims. The school has been faced with threats of arson and violence. The school superintendent Roger Woehl says he received 10,000 emails. Woehl: “He has disrupted the school. This is clearly a behavior we don’t find acceptable.”
On his website, Flyte appears proud of the coverage his story has received, even leading readers to the Oregonian, which today revealed the student’s hoax.
There are plenty of gay and lesbian kids across the country who suffer in oppressive and intolerant school situations. Whatever Flyte’s motives for fueling the hoax, he has made something of a joke of that reality. While it is good to know that there are thousands who will stand up and cry ‘foul’ when an incident like this occurs, it was the wrong thing for Flyte to do. The internet is a lightning rod for stories like this.
I was fooled, plenty of others were fooled too — MSNBC, CNN, the Advocate, (if you can trust Flyte!). I guess I understand now why my emails and calls to the school weren’t returned. “Wow, I appreciate your support,” he said, in an email to Towleroad. It seems that Flyte not only created the hoax, but perpetuated it as well.
It is a shame that this boy has done this. The blogger at Towleroad is right: There are too many LGBT and straight allied youth in our nation who face real and intolerable suffering and harassment. This boy’s hoax has done nothing but hurt those students. Every time a claim of harassment is now made, it is going to be questioned.
Brandon Flyte is now going to be in some deep trouble with his school and rightfully so. Maybe he should get expelled now. I don’t think anyone would object to that.
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March 16th, 2006 at 6:08 pm
It just pisses me off that someone could actually turn something as serious as this into personal entertainment.
March 17th, 2006 at 1:18 am
I’m not convinced this is a hoax. The possibility entered my mind when I first read about the story, but all that’s happened is that the school has presented their side of the story. Brandon never claimed that he had been expelled, per se – if I recall correctly, he only claimed that the school was forcing him to transfer to a community college, which he felt was similar in spirit to a formal expulsion (and I think I would agree). And he believed that the school was forcing him out because of his “Brokeback High” film. This is another point of contention. The superindendent said, as quoted in The Oregonian’s article, that “it was the last of a series of misbehaviors for the teen”. I find it troubling that, to the school officials, showing a film with a shirtless snuggling scene is a “misbehavior”, and I really don’t believe that they’d feel the same way about a film with a heterosexual snuggling scene.
The superindendent claims that the transfer was just to allow him to make up lost credits; Brandon claims that it’s a punishment for having made and shown his film. Now perhaps the timing is coincidental, but it does seem suspicious that this benevolent offer was made the next school day after he showed his film – if Brandon is telling the truth about that. Why the convenient timing? Why was this latest infraction the impetus for offering the option to transfer – if it was indeed presented as a choice for him, and was not a mandatory quasi-expulsion? It doesn’t quite add up, and the explanation offered by the school sounds like it could, possibly, be pure CYA bullshit.
To me it’s rather bizarre that you and other LGBT bloggers report this based on a single source – the person who claims to have been expelled – and then do a complete about-face the minute another party presents their side of the story – officials of the school that purportedly expelled him! I don’t think anyone’s gotten to the bottom of this yet, but it seems a little harsh to practically call for his expulsion, given the scanty evidence available to go on.
March 17th, 2006 at 1:49 am
Yes, the timing may be a little off on the school’s part, but the fact remains that he claimed he was being expelled. He claimed ” As of last Monday, I’m no longer a student at West Linn High School.” and “Apparently the administration thought that this was a big enough violation to warrant an expulsion. Only, it’s not being called an expulsion. It’s basically a ‘mandatory transfer’ to the local community college. I have no choice in it. West Linn High says they’ll pay for me to finish up my last 2 months of high school at Clackamas Community College, and I’ll be able to walk with my high school class at graduation and attend Prom as a guest, “depending on behavior this spring related to West Linn High School.”
Brandon also admits he was never an great student either and he even admits to regularly skipping class. Maybe, just maybe, the school got fed up with dealing with a student who wasn’t following the rules. Although their reasoning for his movie being “the last straw” is horrible in my mind, the fact remains that this boy claims he is being expelled for the gay snuggling seen. There is WAY to much to this story here.
When I first read about this story I blogged about it and supported the student without hearing from the school and the school’s side of it. Now that I have heard the school’s side of it I have to consider more than just Brandon’s story. Maybe I’m wrong to say Brandon was wrong…. it definitely wouldn’t the first time I was wrong, lol. I’ll keep a track on the story and see what unfolds and thanks for your comments… you caused me to think (a very good thing).
March 17th, 2006 at 2:14 am
[...] Q-triad reader Brian Templeton had the following comments to give on the supposed hoaxed expulsion of straight student Brandon Flyte over his “Brokeback High” film project: I’m not convinced this is a hoax. The possibility entered my mind when I first read about the story, but all that’s happened is that the school has presented their side of the story. Brandon never claimed that he had been expelled, per se – if I recall correctly, he only claimed that the school was forcing him to transfer to a community college, which he felt was similar in spirit to a formal expulsion (and I think I would agree). And he believed that the school was forcing him out because of his “Brokeback High” film. This is another point of contention. The superindendent said, as quoted in The Oregonian’s article, that “it was the last of a series of misbehaviors for the teen”. I find it troubling that, to the school officials, showing a film with a shirtless snuggling scene is a “misbehavior”, and I really don’t believe that they’d feel the same way about a film with a heterosexual snuggling scene. [...]