A gay teacher filed a lawsuit for threats and intimidation. He said he received threats from the Ceres police in California after telling school administrators about the homophobia of his students.
Former Central Valley High School teacher David Cole recently filed a lawsuit alleging that Lorenzo Beltran, a school resource officer at Cole’s former workplace, “flashed” and did his gun during an intense visit outside his home on February 15. “Repeated Gestures”, 2019. A few days ago, Cole told school officials that he had witnessed homophobia among school students. Beltran, along with an official who did not want to be named, was called “his thug” in the lawsuit. He allegedly “screamed” Cole as “unfit to be a teacher” while forcing him to resign.
According to the lawsuit, Beltran subsequently told Cole that if he did not quit his job, he would have to accompany the police to the school, which was closed at the time. Cole said Beltran and another police officer refused to leave his property despite repeated requests. When Cole’s partner listened at home and opened the door to let Cole escape inside, the so-called confrontation ended. Cole said that because of intimidation and threats, he was worried about his life, and the lawsuit called these threats “deeply homophobic.”
“Just looking at my front door and remembering it scared me,” Cole told Modesto Bee Last week, in an article published on Thursday. “We have fences in our front yard, and now I look around every fence when I go home.”
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Coles told the newspaper that he lost 75 pounds and has been haunting him since suffering from depression and several other illnesses. Except for himself, he said he was worried about his partner’s safety. Cole said the couple are now reluctant to reveal their sexual orientation in the area — not as comfortable as they did in the 1990s, when the couple founded a groundbreaking LGBTQ social club at a local community college.
“Now we are even afraid of being ourselves,” he told the newspaper. “The complete transformation in my life, from starting the Rainbow Generation, the first queer club in Central Valley School, to being afraid of not letting the police know that I am me or that I am gay. This is where I am: I am just afraid of being in Ceres Stay outside with home.”
The city of Ceres, Ceres police station and Beltran were named as defendants in the lawsuit. Kerr did not sue the school district because the agreement was part of a legal settlement reached in June 2020 after he was fired from the school a year ago. The school district disputed the lawsuit alleging that the school failed to resolve the “long-term problem of homophobia and bullying.”
Van Longyear, a lawyer representing the city and Beltran, said: “We have responded to the complaint and explicitly deny all allegations of misconduct.” bee“We believe that the real motive behind this severe defamation complaint will be revealed at the formal discovery stage of the case.”
Weekly newspaper The Ceres police station was contacted for comments.
