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By Keith Sharon

The bigger boys surrounded him near the bus stop at Kettler Elementary School in Huntington Beach.

They screamed an anti-gay slur at him in Spanish. They sashayed as they circled him, mocking his effeminate movements.

Marcos Saldivar didn’t know what the slur meant exactly. He only knew that it hurt.

He was 6 years old.

Throughout his life, being bullied became too familiar for Marcos Saldivar, now a web editor at the Huffington Post in New York City. His column about his experiences in Huntington Beach in 1995 and the woman who saved him was submitted to the judges as part of this year’s Orange County Teacher of the Year award. Finalists will be named May 20.

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