Denver Post
March 3, 1998
http://www.denverpost.com

Cheerleader complains of harassment
By Carlos Illescas, Denver Post Education Writer

March 3 - The mother of a 15-year-old former West High School cheerleader complained to Denver Public Schools on Monday that the girl's coach and others on the cheerleading squad harassed and discriminated against her because she is bisexual.

In a written complaint, Carol Gutierrez said that cheerleaders verbally abused her daughter, Amber Gutierrez, and the cheerleading coach stood by and did nothing to stop the harassment.

Amber, a 10-grader, said the harassment forced her to quit the cheerleading squad in December.

"Sometimes I feel like everyone's turned their back on me," she said. "Before they knew, everyone was cool to me. After that, I felt like I was by myself. I didn't have anyone to turn to."

After reviewing Gutierrez's claims earlier this school year, West High Principal Irene Jordan concluded that name calling regarding Amber's sexual orientation might have taken place. However, she said that cheerleading coach Susan Ewing, who also is a math teacher at the high school, did not encourage the name calling or do anything wrong.

Ewing did not return phone calls Monday.

"I did go down and have a talk with the cheerleaders," Jordan said. "Kids can be cruel, and they say things without realizing what they're saying. But I don't think the teacher consciously or deliberately allowed harassment as she (Amber) perceived it."

Amber made the cheerleading squad in September, at about the same time rumors that she was gay began circulating throughout campus, according to the complaint. Amber went about her cheerleading duties, she said, but felt she was being excluded from practices. For example, she said, other members of the squad gave her wrong information about practice times and which uniform to wear.

The school and Amber's parents decided that Amber should take a week off from cheerleading. During that week, according to the complaint, the cheerleaders discussed Amber's sexuality at a meeting that included Ewing but not Amber or her mother.

"The coordinator of cheerleaders made public that my daughter was gay," Carol Gutierrez said of the meeting. "All (Amber) ever wanted to do was be a cheerleader. It was Amber's choice to leave because the harassment was too great." Amber quit Dec. 10. A day earlier, she said, members of the squad again mocked her sexuality during a basketball game.

"Ms. Ewing never did anything about it when they said stuff," Amber said. "They would talk about all my gay friends and she wouldn't say anything. She's like the authority. She should say something before things get out of hand." School officials said they tried to resolve the issue.

"What bothers me most about it is that we are trying to address the needs of the students," Jordan said. "We talked to people about sensitivity training, how to create harmony. I called other people, worked with her daughter's counselor and the youth commission. It's not like we're not addressing this problem."

Increasingly, West and other schools are dealing with issues surrounding student sexuality as more students publicly acknowledge they are gay. At West High on Friday, Jordan said, an argument erupted between several homosexual and heterosexual students after a baseball player blamed a gay student for swiping his ball cap.

And an 18-year-old openly gay student transferred from Lutheran High School over the winter break because school officials did not like the way he dressed and told him to change clothes or change schools.

"There is incredible racism, sexism and homophobia at school," said Sue Anderson, executive director of Equality Colorado, a gay and lesbian advocacy group. " ... Kids use the term fag or dyke to insult each other all the time, and sometimes they're not using it to insult a person's sexuality. But what if a kid being called a fag really is gay? That affects his self-esteem and ability to function." Carol Gutierrez has asked the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado to look at her daughter's case.

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