Forum organizers say they hope to develop a plan to make schools safe for gay students.by Laura Meade Kirk, Journal-Bulletin staff writer
If you're a gay teenager, the odds are stacked against you. Just consider these findings from the latest federal survey available:
Local school officials say gay and lesbian youths also face many other problems - including drug and alcohol abuse and being shunned by family members and close friends.
These are just some of the issues that probably will be discussed today at a forum sponsored by the Rhode Island Task Force on Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Youth.
At least 100 students, parents and teachers are expected to attend the forum, which is scheduled for 3:30 to 6:30 at Brown University's List Auditorium at 64 College Street in Providence.
It is intended "to find out more about what is happening in the schools with these kids," said Jackie Harrington, specialist for Family Life, Sex and AIDS for the State Department of Education and a task force member.
The task force will "put together a plan of what can be done to ensure their safety, if they need such a thing, and to give them some support," she said.
The task force and forum are modeled on similar efforts in Massachusetts, where Gov. William Weld three years ago established the Governor's Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth.
That group sponsored a series of public hearings in 1992 and 1994 that were "our way of making people sensitive to the problems of gay and lesbian youths," said David LaFontaine, head of that commission.
The hearings helped Massachusetts enact the first-in-the-nation Gay Students Rights Law, which prohibits discrimination against gay students in the schools. "The public hearings have been the secret to our success," he said.
Members of the Rhode Island task force hope for similar results, according to the group's spokeswoman, Wendy Becker. She said the task force, composed of about 20 people including students, parents, educators and lawmakers and representatives from local and state agencies, gay organizations and social service agencies, was formed by members of several organizations to try to identify problems and make recommendations for policies to help gay and lesbian youths.
They decided to hold the forum to find out the magnitude of the problem from gay and straight students and parents and school officials, she said. They notified schools, health care providers, guidance counselors and student groups about the forum, which has received widespread support in the gay and straight communities, she said.
The task force already knows about the suicide and dropout risks, which were identified in a 1989 study by the federal Department of Health and Human Services, Becker said. But they also hear of other horror stories, including verbal and physical harassment from their peers. "It's awful," she said.
Becker said the homophobia also is evident because, "insults about being gay are the insults of choice" in schools today, everything from "oh, you're so queer" to "don't be so gay."
Another problem is that many teachers do nothing to stop it, she said. Overall, the Education Department's Harrington said, "we have no idea of how bad it is" for kids in the schools. "We've heard of (isolated) incidents, but we have no idea how widespread it is."
Louis Toro, head of the guidance department of Classical High School in Providence, said he thinks it's getting worse, not better. After 21 years in the school system, he said, students seem to be less tolerant of race, ethnicity, and sexuality.
Toro said he knows gay youths have problems, especially verbal harassment and isolation, but he says he is not sure there is one simple way to help. One of the problems, he said, is that many of these youngsters are trying to figure out their sexual identity, and that by having programs that identify them as gay or lesbian - when they're still not sure - could hurt them more than help. "The peer pressure is what gets them," he said.
Only one public school system has publicly addressed the problems faced by gay and lesbian students, Becker said. The Woonsocket School Committee this year approved the formation of a Gay Straight Allliance in the high school to provide support for the gay and lesbian students there, Supt. Josephine Kelleher said.
"There were a handful of kids who said we need this," Kelleher recalled, and those youths said there are a lot more (gay and lesbian youths) that you don't know about." That school system has about 6,500 students in kindergarten through high school.
Kelleher, who is scheduled to serve on the panel at today's forum, says she thinks that these students' "emotional, psychological, and social rights are an issue" that every school will have to deal with.
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Friday, December 8, 1995 SOURCE: APR.I. Students Speak out at Forum on Gay Rights
Providence-- Gay teen-agers tired of being taunted, snubbed, harassed and beaten gathered for a conference to make a request: Treat us like anybody else.
Nearly three dozen teen-agers and adults testified for more than three hours Wednesday at a forum sponsored by the Rhode Island Task Force on Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Youth, a panel of students, parents and educators.
Michael Segee, 17, of Providence, said he dropped out of Burrillville High School earlier this year because he was tired of being harassed.
Maryellen Scott, 17, of Pawtucket, a senior at Tolman High School, said some of her teachers rejected her when she told them she was gay last year.
''I came out to gain respect for myself, to say I will no longer be ashamed of myself,'' she said. ''And in turn I receive ignorance and hatred.''