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zach-kingZach King was 15 when the attack he recieved for being gay left him with a concussion and several teeth missing. The beating was filmed by his classmates at Union-Scioto High School in Chillicothe and then post on the internet.

In the video, Zach was shown being knocked to the ground and punched repeatedly. His attacker had left homophobic remarks on his Facebook page two days earlier, reported PinkNews.co.uk

King and his mother, Rebecca Collins, claimed that school officials “fostered an atmosphere” that permitted the bullying of lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender students while disregarding his reports of harassment, telling him instead to “tone down” his homosexuality.

He sued the school with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union. Last week, the ACLU announced that the two sides had reached a settlement.

The district admitted no wrongdoing in the agreement in which the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio represented King and his mother.

“We hope similarly situated students don’t have to go through what Zach went through. The school district has made a commitment to try to avoid incidents like this in the future,” said James Hardiman, a Cleveland lawyer and the legal director of the ACLU of Ohio.

As well as the $30,000, the school has agreed to improve its anti-bullying policies. It maintains that the attack on Zach was not foreseeable and has not admitted wrongdoing. It will pay another $5,000 to the ACLU to cover legal expenses.

The settlement is small compared to other LGBT-assault settlements. Washington school district was forced to pay $100,000 for ignoring anti-gay, racist bullying, reported the Seattle Times.

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