Robin Tomlin has gotten a face-to-face apology from the North Vancouver School District 42 years after a homophobic slur was attached to his yearbook picture.
Tomlin, who says he was bullied during his time at Argyle Secondary School in the late 1960s, received the apology Monday, CKNW reported.
Tomlin went public with his story earlier this month, telling the North Shore News that he was seeking a personal apology for the yearbook entry where the word "fag" appears next to his Grade 12 picture.
Now retired and suffering from liver disease, Tomlin wanted the school district to change the entries in the yearbooks it still has and to apologize for letting it get printed.
On Monday, Tomlin got what he wanted and emerged from a private meeting with school district officials with some news. A new page in his 1970 yearbook will now read he wants to "meet as many people from all over the world as I can and I want to be a cowboy," said CKNW.
Tomlin called it a "happy day" after receiving the apology, reported the Vancouver Sun.
Supt. John Lewis repeated the school district’s apology for the “cruel and offensive” entry and for the “prolonged grief” it had caused, said the newspaper.
The school district earlier this month offered Tomlin a written apology and to pay for his travel costs so he could meet with the superintendent in person, CTV reported.
Tomlin remarked on the recent suicide of B.C. teen Amanda Todd and said it just shows bullying hasn't stopped, reported The Province.
“It’s worse,” said Tomlin of the cyberbullying that led Todd to kill herself.
Tomlin said he hopes his closure will help other victims of bullying.
"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," reported CBC News.
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