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WATCH: College Disciplines Gay Teen Threatened with Knife

WATCH: College Disciplines Gay Teen Threatened with Knife

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A gay college freshman in Missouri says his school penalized him after his former roommate threatened him with a knife while making antigay comments.

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A gay student at the University of Central Missouri said the school's administration doubly victimized him when they issued a disciplinary letter to the 18-year-old after he reported that his former roommate threatened him with a knife while making antigay statements.

Alex Worthley said his randomly assigned freshman roommate at UCM told him early this semester that he didn't like gay people, and he asked not to be placed in a room with someone who was openly gay. Then, when the roommate asked Worthley to turn down his music one day, Worthley said the conversation turned suddenly hostile.

"He was like, 'I do have a knife and I'll use it if I have to,'" Worthley told TV station WDAF. After Worthley reported the incident to school authorities, he says they gave both students separate rooms -- and formal letters of discipline.

"There seems to be a strong possibility that some of your own actions and comments were part of the reason this situation escalated from jesting to threatening," reads the letter from school officials.

Worthley, who has his own room now, told the station he doesn't think he was responsible and shouldn't have been given the same kind of disciplinary letter as his roommate, who he contends was the sole aggressor.

"[It] made me feel like, because I'm gay, that it was my fault that those threats were made," Worthley told WDAF.

Watch WDAF's report below.

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Sunnivie Brydum

Sunnivie is the managing editor of The Advocate, and an award-winning journalist whose passion is covering the politics of equality and elevating the unheard stories of our community. Originally from Colorado, she and her spouse now live in Los Angeles, along with their three fur-children: dogs Luna and Cassie Doodle, and "Meow Button" Tilly.
Sunnivie is the managing editor of The Advocate, and an award-winning journalist whose passion is covering the politics of equality and elevating the unheard stories of our community. Originally from Colorado, she and her spouse now live in Los Angeles, along with their three fur-children: dogs Luna and Cassie Doodle, and "Meow Button" Tilly.