➤ #WALKAWAY LAWSUIT, from p.4 ➤ ABEL CEDENO, from p.5
stood behind policies that put the
community at great risk. Stand
for something. SOMETHING.”
Straka and his colleagues are
also public fi gures as that is legally
defi ned, Green wrote, who
collectively have hundreds of
thousands of subscribers and
followers on their social media
platforms. To prove defamation
against a public fi gure, the plaintiffs
have to show that the speakers
knew their statements about
the plaintiffs were false or they
acted with reckless disregard as
to the truth of the statements.
Green fi led a lengthy document
fi lled with tweets and social media
posts by the plaintiffs that showed
that not only did Rosenberg and
Beeferman have good reason to
believe that what was said about
the plaintiffs was true, those
statements were true or “substantially
true,” Green wrote.
Those social media posts show
Straka with Milo Yiannopoulos,
who promoted neo-Nazi and white
supremacist ideologies when he
worked at Breitbart, and Straka
appearing on “InfoWars,” a show
by Alex Jones, a leading voice on
the alt right.
Harlow is seen boasting of appearing
with Gavin McInnes, the
founder of the Proud Boys. White
is shown fl ashing a white power
hand sign, appearing in black
face to mock the Black Lives Matter
movement, responding to a
question about the “migrant crisis”
with “gas em,” and writing “if
he ain’t Aryan, we ain’t marryin”
on Facebook.
The open letter charged the
plaintiffs with espousing “white
supremacist, transphobic, xenophobic,
and otherwise bigoted
views that are dangerous to our
communities,” associating with
people who advance “violently
anti-immigrant, racist, sexist,
and queerphobic ideologies,” and
being “far-right provocateurs”
who share responsibility “for incitement
to violence against trans
people, black people, women, immigrants,
Jews, and Muslims,
and who publicly associate themselves
with prominent, violent
members of the ‘Alt Right’ white
nationalist movement.”
him leading up to the incident and
how it contributed to it.”
Cedeno on several occasions
told Gay City News how he had
been relentlessly bullied since
the sixth grade and that despite
complaints from himself and his
mother, Luz Hernandez, school
authorities took no action to stop
it or to grant him a transfer to a
safer school. The school where the
incident took place was shuttered
shortly after the tragedy.
Lynn echoed Cedeno’s comments
that he thinks about how
the classroom fi ght led to the
death of one student and serious
injury of another “every day.”
Cedeno deeply regrets listening
to a friend who told him that carrying
a knife would protect him
against bullies, the attorney said.
Lynn added that it was evident
from Cedeno’s testimony — and
video of the fi ght — that he had
no experience using a knife and
that rather than trying to stab his
attackers, he was fl ailing with the
knife as he was being punched.
And while self-defense usually
requires trying to retreat before
using force, Cedeno said that he
felt frozen in place and then “just
snapped.” Lynn said that Cedeno
“is resigned to doing time” and
that he has not been mistreated
in jail apart from his medication
being withheld from him initially.
Kate Barnhart, executive director
of New Alternatives for Homeless
LGBT Youth (where I am on
the board), said she often advocates
for youthful offender status
for her clients.
“It prevents a person’s entire future
from being ruined by a conviction,”
she said. “It makes it so
once the person is an adult, they
can apply for employment and
housing without the convictions
becoming an obstacle.”
Asked about the Bronx DA offi
ce’s stance on youthful offender
status for Cedeno and the sentence
it is recommending, Patrice
O’Shaughnessy, director of communications,
wrote, “We will speak
about it in court on Sept. 10.”
Cedeno’s sentencing is at 10
a.m. September 10 at the Bronx
Hall of Justice, 265 East 161st
Street.
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