U of M student harassed by roommate after coming out as gay

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Harassed and verbally abused, a student at the University of Michigan says he was forced to get a court order against his roommate after coming out as gay.

The young man claims the abuse escalated beyond just a war of words. He says his personal property was even destroyed while he was away from the apartment -- and that student's lawyer says there's a chance the roommate could face criminal charges.

FOX 2 contacted that student but he did not return our calls. However, the personal protection order will be on his record for a long time.

"At the end of the day people need to realize you cannot treat someone the way that I was treated in this apartment and think you can get away with it," said Matthew Mansour.

A Washtenaw County judge agreed, signing off on Mansour's personal protection order against a roommate.

"He cannot set foot in that apartment again, period," said attorney Arnold Reed. "If he does based on this order that the judge wrote, this man will go to jail."

FOX 2 was with Matthew when he resettled in his apartment Friday. He had been living with a friend since the drama unfolded. He says he was harassed and verbally abused after coming out as gay last month.

"As soon as I posted it on Instagram there was this feeling of relief and so much support from all my friends and the community," he said.

It didn't last long. Matthew claims his roommate, who FOX 2 is not identifying, went after him.

"He starts banging on my door, he screams some gay slurs at me," Mansour said. "Later he makes comments about rape fantasies and just really terrible things."

The junior from West Bloomfield alleges his roommate destroyed some of his belongings, throwing them out of a window of their sixth floor apartment when he traveled out of state for fall break.

He filed a report with Ann Arbor police and the university. A spokesman for the university says the Dean of Students reached out to Matt to offer support. He would not say what, if any, discipline his roommate faced, citing student privacy laws.

"U of M is embarrassing, they haven't done anything," Reed said. "They really are an embarrassment."

Reed says the roommate denied the allegations in court, but his testimony wasn't credible.

"I'm not happy that this kid has got this on his record and he's so young this is going to follow him," Reed said. "But by the same token, he learned in that courtroom yesterday you can't harass people based on sexual orientation, race or anything like that."

Among other things ordered is that former roommate cannot buy or have possession of a gun. He cannot have any contact with Matthew or even talk about him social media. If he violates the order he could be arrested and thrown in jail.