Words hurt for gays in schools

[kweerwolf]

(From The Olympian in Olympia, WA)

There were 28 incidents involving derogatory references to sexual orientation that resulted in disciplinary action in the North Thurston, Olympia and Tumwater school districts between 2002 and mid-March 2005. That's equal to slightly less than one incident per month somewhere in the three districts' 49 schools, according to disciplinary records released as a result of a public information request by The Olympian.

More than half -- 15 of the 28 cases -- occurred in middle schools.

In five instances, the disciplined student did more than use a derogatory phrase, such as throwing something at someone, threatening physical violence or actually hitting another student.

Students disciplined in such cases in all three districts typically were suspended from school for one or two days.

<snip>

Washington's anti-bullying law, which was enacted in 2002, requires schools to adopt policies that protect students from bullying related to their sexual orientation, race, religion, disability or body shape.

http://www.theolympian.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050618/NEWS/506180302

(The end of the article contains a table of various incidents and copies of the reports and actions taken by the school district.)

[sui generis]

1. well the good news is that they're actually doing something

about it.

And it's not just that some kid is ACTUALLY gay, but worse on many levels, that they are PRESUMED gay.

As long as it's okay to discriminate against gays, it's okay to discriminate against anyone presumed gay, and that means all one has to say in their defense is that they THOUGHT the person they were abusing was gay.

Sooner or later more people than you and I will actually begin to understand this point.

[Guy Fawkes]

2. The schools here do nothing about it...

Our GSA may be disbanded next year from lack of membership- but we aren't allowed to advertise the group because that would be "promoting homosexuality."

Because saying "Gay is OK" is a bad thing... (Do I need a :sarcasm: on that?)