A B.C. man who was the victim of a homophobic slur printed in his high school yearbook more than four decades ago will receive an in-person apology from the North Vancouver School District today.Robin Tomlin says he has been tormented for years after the word "fag" was printed next to his picture in the Argyle Secondary School yearbook.Even though the incident happened so long ago, Tomlin says he hopes the apology will 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."He says some of his old high school classmates will also be throwing him a grad party later on Monday night, but he has never received any apology from those who bullied him or printed the slur in the yearbook.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.
The apology will follow the suicide of B.C. teen Amanda Todd, who brought worldwide attention to the problem of bullying online and at schools.