Group Monitors Pervasiveness of Comments
GAY SLURS ABOUND, STUDENTS SAY
"It's just incredible" what teens say, says the school board president, who isn’t surprised at the survey.

By Kellye Carter, Register Staff Writer

The Des Moines student group that led a community-wide effort to save the school district's anti-discrimination policies last year now questions the policies effectiveness.

The average Des Moines high school student hears about 25 anti-gay remarks a day -- everything from "faggot" and "dyke" to the derogatory slang expression "That is so gay", according to a survey conducted by Concerned Students of Des Moines.

When the slurs were made in front of teachers, 97 percent didn't respond, according to the survey.

LETTER SENT

The group delivered a letter and memo to school officials last week, asking them to enforce the policies designed to protect employees and students from discrimination based on sexual orientation.

"There's no reason to have a policy if it's not going to be enforced, and that means ... day to day in the hallways and the classroom," said Jessica DeCou, a 1995 Lincoln High School graduate and member of Concerned Students.

School board President Elizabeth Goodwin said she wasn't surprised at the number of anti-gay comments recorded by the students.

"Those words are what I consider fad words at this time. I don't think it's appropriate. I don't support it, but kids will say things for an effect, no matter who hears it," she said. "They call their friends "faggot." I mean, it's just incredible."

Goodwin said she would contact administrators to ensure that measures still are in place to enforce the policies. She said she didn't know whether any other action would be needed.

RECORDED SLURS

Concerned Students launched its "Homophobia in Schools Project" in December to document bigotry for school officials. Students tracked anti-gay remarks, gestures and actions on 10 specified "homophobia recording days," said Kit Murray, a Roosevelt High School senior and co-founder of Concerned Students.

The recorders attend East, Lincoln, North and Roosevelt high schools and Central Academy, a metro-wide program for gifted students. Not every student participated on every designated day, Murray said, and none of the slurs was directed at the recording students.

"I realize it's not a formal survey or anything, but I think the information that we did gather says a lot," Murray said. "Obviously, there's a problem. This is the only derogatory name-calling that's still really accepted within the school system."

Murray and other recorders said they were amazed at the pervasiveness of anti-gay comments in classrooms and hallways.

"I've become so accustomed to hearing it all the time that it just didn't faze me anymore," Murray said. "I guess that really surprised and shocked me, how much it was going on because I didn't realize it."

DeCou said she once attended a school "diversity day" program where the adult presenter made an anti-gay remark.

"He gave this whole speech about why you shouldn’t call people names, and then someone asked something about the gay issue," she said. "He said, "Don't call your friend or classmate a faggot -- even if he is one." Not all of this anti-gay language is coming from students."

Murray, who recorded comments for five days, said none of her teachers responded to anti-gay comments. She confronted one but the teacher didn't respond.

FEAR

"I just think there's a lot of fear," Murray said. "It's kind of like they just don't want to deal with it. Maybe they're afraid a student or somebody will be like, "Are you gay or something?" if they confront it, and then the rumors start."

Goodwin, the board president, said she thought it would be difficult for a teacher to stop a class and immediately address the issue when such a slur was said. "I think the teacher could be heckled."

In the letter to school officials, Concerned Students said anti-gay remarks hurt all students by discouraging them from pursuing activities that might encourage others to stereotype them as homosexuals.

THE DES MOINES REGISTER March 7, 1997

"THOROUGHLY DEPRESSING"
LESBIAN GRAD RECALLS NONSTOP BARRAGE OF COMMENTS

Jessica DeCou says she heard anti-gay remarks in every class at school.

Although the remarks often weren't directed at her, DeCou, a lesbian, said they were confusing, hurtful and scary.

She skipped her junior year and graduated from Lincoln High School in 1995 at age 16. Now 18, DeCou is a member of Concerned Students of Des Moines, a group trying to stop gay slurs in schools.

DeCou said she told very few people in school about her sexuality, but lost her "very best friend" -- a heterosexual girl -- over false rumors that they were "a couple."

"I wasn't out to her because I was afraid to, but she was very tolerant and very pro-gay until people started calling us dykes," DeCou said.

"My friend would say she heard people talking at lunch how we were a couple and we were doing this and that and we might as well be holding hands when we were walking down the hall, things like that," DeCou said. "All of a sudden she didn't want to be my friend anymore.

"It was thoroughly depressing. I went through a lonely time but eventually I developed stronger relationships with other people."

There were boys in a class who regularly talked about their hatred of homosexuals and how they would kill them if they ever made a pass at them, DeCou said.

"They would also speak of the sexual acts in detail and how gross they were. My questions were always 'How do you know?'" she said.

Schools need to stop the verbal and physical harassment of students who are perceived to be homosexuals, she said.

"Homophobia is still totally accepted because homosexuals are still (seen as) deviant no-accounts," she said. "There's nothing wrong with insulting someone who's not considered as human as you are."

Kellye Carter