GRANT SOUGHT TO TEACH TEACHERS ABOUT ISSUES FACING GAY STUDENTS

By JULIE POPPEN Camera Staff Writer

Before 18-year-old Robb Hernandez even "came out," he was already being harassed by his middle school peers, who called him a "faggot" and slapped him on the back of the head as they passed him in the halls.

On various occasions, teachers and coaches - who obviously heard the comments and saw the actions aimed at the distraught 12-year-old boy - turned their heads.

"It got to the point where I would talk to teachers about it, and for some reason, it just got lost under the red tape and they forgot about it," Hernandez said.

Finally, Hernandez changed schools, leaving Longmont for a school in Boulder - a district with a non-discrimination policy that includes sexual orientation. He recently graduated from Boulder High School - where he was accepted after he "came out" at age 15 and was named president of his senior class.

Hernandez's experiences shed light on a problem that is gaining more attention nationally and locally: The often traumatic years of adolescence can be doubly hard for gay and lesbian students who, because of confusion over sexual identity or harassment, can try suicide or fall into deep bouts of depression.

To make matters worse, teachers and administrators often fail to intervene with support or with discipline for those making the harsh statements.

To address the issue, Boulder's Office of Human Rights is applying for a $9,197 grant from the Community Foundation's Open Door Fund that will create a program in the Boulder Valley School District aimed at educating teachers and administrators about gay and lesbian issues.

The Valuing Diversity grant is ex pected to be approved later this summer, said Carmen Atilano, a Human Rights Office administrator.

The money will be used to study school issues, figure out what would motivate educators to seek training on sexual orientation issues, develop a school-specific training program, and train facilitators.

Already the program - a series of workshops and exercises that addresses homophobia and heterosexism (the assumption that everyone is straight has been held for various other groups, including police, non-profit agencies, businesses, schools and governmental agencies since its 1993 inception during the Amendment 2 battle.

The now-defunct Amendment 2 was a statewide ballot issue aimed at making city human rights ordinances including sexual orientation, such as Boulder's, illegal. The city kicks in $5,225 annually to the Valuing Diversity project.

"It became evident that Boulder needed a program to further educate the community on these issues," Atilano said.

But not all parents agree the place for education on gay issues is in school. Once the grant comes before parents, teachers and the public, it could be a tougher sell.

Joan Bonin, whose daughter attends Centennial Middle School, said the district should focus on academic achievement for all students.

"I would be opposed to getting a grant to train teachers," Bonin said.

"I think teachers have enough work teaching reading, writing and arithmetic to kids. If all kids are doing well, I'd say, "Fine, get this grant to talk about other human issues.'"

Bonin said there are also parents and students who would oppose the program on religious grounds.

"I know that it's needed - especially for teens, because they tend to be kind of prejudiced - but I'm not sure we should spend all that money and time," she said.

School board President Stephanie Hult, who has a gay brother, said raising awareness for all at-risk youths is imperative.

"I think it's important that teachers and administrators know and be aware of signs of youth at risk on a whole range of issues - (sexual orientation) would certainly be one of them," said Hult, who hadn't yet heard of the city's grant proposal.

Bob Greenlee was the only Boulder City Council member with questions about the grant, which needed the council's informal OK to move forward. He thought the Valuing Diversity program was about educating people on racial and ethnic diversity issues.

"Quite frankly, I was a little surprised," Greenlee said. "Why do they call it a diversity project? I don't have a problem with it, but call it what it is."

But Councilwoman B.J. Miller said the measure, presented to all council members in an information packet, wasn't controversial.

"Boulder has been very supportive of diversity since the '70s when it had huge fights over the issue," Miller said. "This seems to be something appropriate and valuable that we're working on."

Problem or not, Tracy Phariss, co-chair of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Teachers Network of Colorado, said more education is needed. He said youths are coming out at younger ages than ever. He cited statistics showing the age of gay men coming out has dropped from 19.3 in 1980 to 13.1 in 1993.

Phariss said that while people are more supportive of gay issues, there's also an underlying backlash. He said studies show 30 percent of all teen suicides are gay and lesbian youths.

He said said that in Colorado, 40 percent of gay and lesbian youths have serious substance abuse problems, while nationally the figure is closer to 25 percent.

Denver, Boulder and Jefferson County, where Phariss works, have non-discrimination policies, but they don't mean much if they're not enforced, he said.

"The big issue is that students are not willing to come to school because they feel unsafe, abused, they're called "faggot,' and teachers and administrators do nothing to step in," Phariss said.

Phariss said he's heard stories of students threatening their gay and lesbian peers with knives and baseball bats. One student was given an "F" for revealing her homosexuality in an autobiographical essay. And while Boulder may be more supportive than other parts of the state, there's still a need for education, he said.

"We are losing teachers because they're fearful of coming out," said Phariss, an openly gay math teacher. "We have students who pick on gay teachers. But it just takes one teacher to stop people from being called "faggots.' Other teachers pick up on that and stop the name-calling."

Teachers' network tracks school surveys

The Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Teachers Network of Colorado tracks statistics pertaining to gay and lesbian youths and their experiences in school. Here is a sampling of various survey results the group has collected from academic studies conducted in Colorado:

9 percent of high school students identify as "gay, lesbian, bisexual or questioning."

97 percent of students in public high schools report regularly hearing homophobic remarks from their peers.

The typical high school student hears anti-gay slurs 25.5 times a day.

80 percent of gay and lesbian youths report severe social isolation.

53 percent of students re cbport hearing homophobic comments by school staff.

80 percent of prospective teachers report negative attitudes toward gay and lesbian people.

52 percent of prospective teachers report they would feel uncomfortable working with an openly lesbian or gay colleague.

77 percent of prospective teachers would not encourage a class discussion on homosexuality and 85 percent oppose integrating gay/lesbian themes into their curricula.

Two-thirds of guidance counselors harbor negative feelings toward gay and lesbian people.

Fewer than 20 percent of guidance counselors have received any training on serving gay and lesbian students.

Teachers fail to intervene in 97 percent of incidents involving anti-gay slurs at school.

78 percent of school admin istrators say they know of no lesbian, gay or bisexual students in their schools. Ninety-four percent of them say they feel their schools are safe places for gay students.