PROTECTION OF LES/GAY STUDENTS FROM HARASSMENT

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When discrimination against a minority group is condoned by a religion, government or society, then the most extreme forms of hatred are released. We have seen this in its most extreme form of genocide, rape and "ethnic cleansing" in Bosnia, directed against Muslims and others. We also see hatred in our own public schools, directed against gay and lesbian students. School administrations which ignore the problem are, in effect, declaring open season on sexual minorities.

Incidence of anti-gay harassment:

A study of schools in the state of Washington revealed some fascinating statistics. The Safe Schools Anti-Violence Project issued their third annual report in late 1996. It included the results of a survey of over 8,400 students:

It is somewhat ironic that in the schools surveyed, among students harassed because of their perceived sexual orientation, about 75% were heterosexual. Thus, heterosexuals are the main victims of homophobic harassment.

A 1999 survey of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual (LGBT) friendly youth organizations by the Gay Lesbian & Straight Educational Network (GLSEN) found that:

Pioneer Law Suit in Ashland WI:

Jamie Nabozny is a gay youth who realized his sexual orientation when he was in the 7th grade. In 1996, at age 21, he sued his school district in Ashland, WI. He had survived years of taunts and threats from homophobic students. The school administrators gave essentially no support. They told him and his parents that he had to learn to expect abuse because he is gay. The situation predictably degenerated into violence. He was forced to take part in a simulated rape; he was urinated upon; he was kicked so many times that he had to undergo abdominal surgery. Rather than tackle the underlying problem of homophobia in the schools, the administration tried to isolate him from his fellow students. They placed him in a special-ed class; they made him travel to school on a bus with elementary school students so that his contemporaries could not attack him. Nabozny said: "Instead of teaching the value of respect for others, the school taught that if you are different you are the problem, and you are the one that has to be separated out and hidden." Part way through his eleventh year, he quit high school. His guidance counselor is quoted as saying: "I've tried to help you through this whole thing and nobody's willing to do anything." He later obtained his GED.

He won the lawsuit. Jurors agreed that 3 school officials "intentionally discriminated" against Nabozny and failed in their responsibility to protect him. By doing so, they violated his constitutional guarantee of equal protection. He won a $900,000 settlement. This is believed to be the first case in the US where school administrators were held liable for failing to deal constructively with anti-gay hatred.

David Buckel of the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund said "The Nabozny case sent a ringing message to school districts throughout the country that henceforth, harassment of lesbian and gay teens in schools would be taken seriously." It was more than a ringing message; it was a massive shudder of fear felt in every school board in the US. No board can easily handle a 1 million-dollar judgment.

Other Court Challenges:

The Nabozny case opened the floodgate; it inspired many new court challenges in 1976-1997, including:

There are some encouraging signs of improvement:

Proactive activities:

We believe that lawsuits are most successful if the student and parent carefully document every incident of harassment and every meeting with school officials.

It is sad that some school boards will be motivated to protect their students more out of fear than a sense of decency and fairness. But at least school districts will eventually be forced to protect all of their students. They will find that an early enforcement of anti-discrimination policies will nip harassment of gays and lesbians in the bud when it is at the name-calling stage, before the situation degenerates into violence. School districts will have only two options: to protect all of their students against harassment, or to face bankruptcy.

Some school districts are taking a pro-active stance over homophobic and other forms of harassment. Others at least are monitoring the magnitude of the problem. (8,9,10,11) In early 1995, the Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Community Services Center of Colorado had supplied a poster to the schools. It urged students with concerns about their sexuality to phone the center. That poster was criticized by a Fundamentalist Christian organization, Focus on the Family, from nearby Colorado Springs. They felt that the poster promoted the homosexual "lifestyle." They were also disturbed that the poster seemed to recommend that students contact an outside agency instead of seeking support from their parents. (Since a substantial percentage of youth who reveal their gay or lesbian orientation to their parents get thrown out of the house, the poster's recommendations seem reasonable).

The Denver school system organized a program in early 1996 which included a new poster which urges students to talk to school counselors about harassment based on race, gender, and sexual orientation. Counselors were given special training. Principals and governing committees implemented the program at each school. Lawrence Burtoft, a policy analyst from Focus on the Family policy was still unhappy: "To include homosexuality along with such characteristics as race, ethnicity and gender is to accept an understanding of homosexuality which is not grounded in fact."

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