Brody's Notes... Man Waits 42 years To Get Apology For Slur

By Brody Levesque | NORTH VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA -- Forty two years after graduating from high school, scarred by a homophobic slur printed in his yearbook, Robin Tomlin, a B.C. resident has finally received a personal apology from the North Vancouver School District at his former high school.

Tomlin, told a gathering of reporters outside of Argyle Secondary School Monday that he was victimised by the word "fag" that was printed next to his senior picture in the yearbook in 1970, the year that he graduated. Tomlin said that even though what happened to him was four decades ago, he felt that receiving the apology would give other victims of bullying hope.

"I hid it pretty good, but over the years, say the last 10 years, there has been so many stories of bullying coming out, it just kept bringing it back. And I just hated to see all these new victims out there, so I hope I can help." 

Tomlin said he was so terrified of bullies during high school that after the yearbook was published, he was too frightened to attend his prom. He tried for several years to have the school district print a replacement page for the copies in its library, but it was not until he enlisted the help of a lawyer that the school district complied and sent him an email saying they regretted the incident. ~CBC News, British Columbia

The apology follows the suicide of  B.C. teen Amanda Todd, who brought worldwide attention to the problem of bullying online and at schools.