The Urgent Problem in Pinellas County Schools: Sexual Assault and the Men’s Bathroom Choir
By: A.C. Sarlo
Tags: Sexual Assault, Pinellas County, Pinellas County Schools, Me Too Movement

(Content Warning: discussions of sexual assault, rape, abuse of minors, and pedophilia.)

In 2019, a collection of students at Gibbs High School developed an idea: a choir of boys who would sing in a restroom, taking advantage of the natural reverb and acoustic echoes that the bathroom walls provided. This wasn’t by any means a new idea — It was an extension of a popular meme at the time where similar choirs would sing the Halo video game theme song — but the group of boys was determined to continue the choir past the original meme and began posting a large amount of content on a YouTube channel and Instagram. This content would quickly grow a cult following, even garnering national attention. News agencies came to the school to interview the leader and the many boys who participated. The choir grew from its original small numbers to a point where you could barely fit another person in the restroom. This group was called the Gibbs High School Men’s Bathroom Choir.

One of the many videos posted by the Bathroom Choir. This video has more than two million views and was one of the initial videos to go viral when the group started.

However, almost as quickly as the popularity of the group grew, so too did controversy. It was open knowledge at the time that a few of the boys in the choir had allegations of sexual harassment and abuse from the girls at the school. One, at the time, had a credible allegation of outright rape. Being a school with a liberal and progressive student population, these allegations were not hidden among the students. I was personal friends with many of the victims. One of my worst memories at Gibbs High School was watching one of my friends come back from the office after she reported her abuser. The administration did nothing. At her request, I’m going to leave her name out of this article, but she’s given me permission to tell her story. I thank her for that.

Much of the 2019–2020 school year was filled with this repeated cycle: a girl would come forward, accuse a boy in the Bathroom Choir — Many came with screenshots and evidence — and attempt to get their story heard, they’d report it to the administration, and the administration would do nothing. There were many Instagram stories from people at the school about the allegations and stories of the many who came forward, but due to the nature of Instagram they did not usually spread past Gibbs High School students and minimal exposure with the Bathroom Choir’s fanbase. This was not something exclusive to the Men’s Bathroom Choir, though. I remember my freshman year had one high-profile assault allegation against a senior, my sophomore year there were three harassment and one assault allegation I knew of, my junior year had at least four. However, the Men’s Bathroom Choir was something special, I believe. The national attention that the group brought to the school also hastened the spread of the allegations. Even still, Gibbs High School did nothing. These boys were not punished. They were not removed from classes they shared with their victims. They were not removed from the choir. The school did not address the issue, did not address the rampant sexual violence on their campus more broadly, and allowed the school year to end without any care for the victims among their student population.

This is not a problem unique to Gibbs High School. I know so many people among Pinellas County Schools who have been victimized or know someone who has. To my knowledge, I only know one case where the victim was properly dealt with out of maybe forty. I know from my time at Pinellas County Schools that grooming and statutory rape of students by teachers could not be brought to the press or the public due to the Florida Teachers’ Union’s rules on dismissal of a teacher. This problem is systemic and at least partially state-wide.

Student victims are not being helped, they are not getting attention, and they are not getting justice.

Now, the Bathroom Choir has transitioned to Tik Tok, the popular social media app that Generation Z adores, where they’ve amassed a moderately large following. As of writing, they have gained twenty-seven-thousand followers and more than two-hundred-thousand likes on their videos. Tik Tok, however, has a duet feature where you can add video and audio onto another user’s content. Now, students are taking action. Many students from Gibbs High School are working to compile and expose the Bathroom Choir’s many abusers through the duet features. Allegations of sexual assault are being shared along with credible stories of transphobia and racism. These duets are growing about as quickly as the Bathroom Choir’s content. Much of the initial work on Tik Tok was done by Maddie Cooper, a student at Gibbs High School, whose videos and duets have grown to more than fifty thousand likes. The bathroom choir has made responses to these videos, including responding to Cooper’s videos, denying any wrongdoing on the part of its members, but more students are making duets. Many students are coming forward, either through Cooper or on their own, to voice their stories on Tik Tok.

The initial video created by Maddie Cooper spreading awareness of the allegations against many of the members in the group.

In a generation who grew up with the Me Too movement, I expect Tik Tok users will take these allegations seriously, but being canceled on Tik Tok is not justice for victims. No media attention has come to these allegations, even two years after their popular exposure. Pinellas County Schools has not addressed these allegations publicly or privately.

Something needs to change soon. Students are getting hurt and abused and the staff are either unwilling or not allowed to address the situation. Pinellas County Schools and the Florida Teachers’ Union need to address the situation to protect students from sexual assault. There needs to be rules to protect students from transphobia and racism, especially at Gibbs High School where the student population is majority black and/or LGBTQ. Addressing the culture that insufficient action has bred is the only way towards justice for the students who have been victimized.