After going viral on Twitter for delivering the anti-bullying slap heard round the world, Indiana high school student Jordan Steffy sat down with Tamron Hall to explain what led up to the confrontation with his bully.
The junior at LaPorte High School in Indiana told Hall that a friend had shown him a graphic posted on Snapchat that contained a photo of him with the text “I still hate gays” and some emojis.
Steffy says he didn’t even know the student who posted the graphic.
“That hit me like, I don’t even know who this is,” Steffy said after seeing the post. “I just didn’t even know what to do.”
And so Steffy decided to approach the bully before class and ask about the post.
“I had walked into the class and I had the post right on my phone because I was going to ask him why he posted it,” Steffy said. “And I walked to his desk, I met him there, and I showed him, ‘What is this?’”
“It’s just a post.” the bully responded.
“About me right?” Steffy clarified.
“Yeah, and? What are you going to do about it?” the bully spit back.
When I say that this baby slapped him with the hands of Harvey Milk and EVERY ancestor at Stone Wall…. pic.twitter.com/3ycoR9rcgz
— Jon Paul, EdD (They/Them/Tired)🏳️🌈 (@DoctorJonPaul) November 9, 2019
Steffy admits the physical altercation began at that point when he shoved the bully.
At this point, Hall tried to get to the deeper causation that years of bullying creates asking, “When you shoved him first, was that about him, or just years of this, and he’s the breaking point?”
“Years – it was years and years, over and built up,” Steffy shared.
“In that video, he [the bully] called you the slur multiple times?” asks Hall as Steffy shakes his head yes.
“When you saw the video, Angie, and you saw what he was going through – it’s one thing for your child to come home and say I’m being bullied. It’s another thing to see it on video. What did you think?” Hall asked Jordan’s mother, Angie Steffy.
“It just makes me mad,” said the tearful mother. “I’m tired of it. I’m tired of him going through that. I’m happy he stood up for himself. I’m not happy he was cussing like that. I don’t like him hitting.”
“But he knows – he had enough. He had enough,” added Angie as the audience applauds.
https://twitter.com/JordanSteffy1/status/1193002314879184898
Steffy is currently suspended from school due to the incident, and his mother had decided to homeschool her son after seeing how he was being treated at school.
Talking about going back to his high school one last time becomes an emotional moment for both son and mother to such a point that Hall comforts them both saying, “This is breaking your mom’s heart. The people watching, we’re rooting for you in every way. It’ll be ok. It’ll be ok.”
The effect of LGBTQ bullying, folks. Here it is. And it’s heartbreaking.
He is a Hero
The anti-gay environment in Indiana thanks to former Governor Mike Pence, current pee-Resident Trump and his KKKonservative VP, the aforementioned Douchebag Pence is unbearable. My Partner and I recently fled Indiana back to the civilized states of New England to where we can be safe until the RepubliKKKan Nazi Party is no more. Folks we need to get all our non-voting LGBTQ Friends and Family registered and voting. Our Country and Community need us. We need to save all the LGBTQ people in the demonic Red States by getting up, acting up and voting out the evil RepubliKKKans ruining this country.
HOPEFULLY we can all DUMP TRUMP/PENCE IN 2020 !!!!
Hopefully the country will DUMP TRUMP/PENCE in 2020 !!!
OK, so you should never hit. Even when you’re in the right. However, confronting the bully … well, kudos!
Did the bully get suspended too? If not, Jordan was discriminated against by the school. You hear the teacher yell only at Jordan in the video. Jordan was being bullied at school and being cyber bullied by the online post. The bully needs to be dealt with. Don’t punish the victim. I’m Proud of Jordan for hitting the bully. You can only be pushed so far before you snap. And if the school was doing their job this wouldn’t have gone this far. Schools tend to turn a blind eye to LGBTQ students being bullied. It needs to stop now!
Agreed. Sadly, the fact that Jordan (though justified) threw the first (and only)punch and zero tolerance is a thing. True to a bully’s nature, jerk only ran his mouth and his alligator mouth couldn’t cover his butterfly ass. While the bully said hateful things, the only punishment bully may have received is Jordan making chicken salad out of chicken shit. Schools are still catching up with technology. Just a messed up situation all around
OK when did the suburban white boy start talking and cursing like he did and where the hell was the teacher I am a teacher this teacher let it go on and at the end you hear him step up if that happened in my class that would’ve stopped before it even began
I go to school with this kid and I can say that he did the right thing in this instance, but he is by far not a very good advocate for anti bullying. He him self is one of the most mean and spiteful people I have ever met and he has repeatedly had issues in the past where he has very brutally bullied and belittled people and often times in front of a crowd. Did he stick up for him self yes but is he and anti bully hero no
Thanks for speaking up
I watched this the other day and agree that it was pretty heartbreaking to see. I think Jordan’s mother’s decision to take him out of school is a mistake, however. He may find if he goes back that students have a newfound respect for him after this incident; just leaving and becoming invisible only tells the bullies that they’ve won. Why isn’t the school being held responsible for all this? They continued to ignore the bullying and it went on for years. There’s no excuse for not protecting him and disciplining the students who were making his life hell.
Anti gay students fight a war that they never will win. Great Job, Jordan for helping prove it!
We are not weak
Fight back for what you believe in! ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜
I don’t like what this young man did, but secretly I’m happy he humiliated his bully. I remember all the hate I experienced as a teen. It builds up inside until you’ve had enough. My only outlet was to skip school, go home, so I could have peace. It got me into trouble as well, but I’d probably do it again. I wish I could have told my 16 year old self, “it’ll be alright, you’ll be fine, you will be loved”. I’ve been with my husband for 30 years, I’m so lucky. This young man will have a strong life ahead of him because he stood up for himself. I wish him well, be strong.
I wish I would have had Jordan’s courage when I was in high school. I regret it to this day. I think the other person is right, Mom should have left you in school. I think you are and would have been, a hero for many students, but I do understand why your Mom did it.
This is the 21st Century………
Fight BACK boys and girls ! Fight Back!
Proud of you! Stay strong and true to yourself ❤️
We need to set up a scholarship fund, or something, for this hero. Is this something we can do a GoFundMe for?
It is high time for people to understand one thing: GAYS BASH BACK! RISE UP!