Message from:
The Coalition for Safer Schools of NYS, PO Box 2345, Malta, NY 12020

Email to: SARATOGANY@aol.com

The Real or Perceived Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered Student Protection Project

FYI
North Andover High
675 Chickering Rd
North Andover, MA 01845
Phone: (978) 794 - 1711

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Boston Globe, December 3, 2000
Northwest Weekly
Box 2378, Boston, MA 02107
(Fax 617-929-2098 ) (E-MAIL: letter@globe.com )
( http://www.boston.com/globe)

Survey finds negative view toward gays

By Caroline Louise Cole, Globe Correspondent, 12/3/2000

NORTH ANDOVER -- Asked how they would react should a friend confide to them that he or she were gay, an overwhelming number of North Andover High School students said negatively.

Even more disturbing to members of the school's Gay-Straight Alliance, which conducted the survey, were the number who said their reaction would be violent.

The responses were part of an anonymous survey the student support group conducted in late October about student attitudes toward homosexuality.

''I would beat them,'' wrote one student. ''I'd tell them to hang themselves,'' offered another, and a third said, ''I would run.''

Considering the number of times he has been taunted with the words ''fag'' and ''homo'' in the halls of the high school, senior Joey Silk said he thought he had been prepared for how his peers would react. But he said, ''The responses were a lot more violent than I expected.''

Added freshman Christine Middleton, ''Even if some kids were goofing when they answered the survey, and even if they would never act on those violent feelings, it is still sick that they would have thought to write those kinds of hateful things.''

Silk said the survey wasn't intended to be scientific and that the group hasn't tabulated responses for official release.

''It was more a way to get a discussion going'' about gay-bashing on school grounds, he said.

''Let's just say when we divided the pile into positive and negative reactions, the negative pile was about 10 times bigger,'' said Brad Silk, Joey's sophomore brother.

Joey Silk and other members of the alliance asked principal Susan Nicholson for permission to address the teaching staff about student homophobia in hopes of making the school safer for gay students.

''We started with the teachers because we know that if a teacher says a certain word or phrase isn't acceptable, kids will listen or at least stop when they are around that teacher,'' Middleton said.

With Nicholson's full support, the 30-member student group first asked students to fill out the 14-question survey during their first-period class on Oct. 31. Other questions asked the students to define homosexuality, to indicate how they would react to an openly gay teacher, and to describe how gay students are treated at the school.

''We got some strange responses as well as the negative ones, like some kids really don't know what homosexuality is,'' Middleton said.

The group's staff adviser suggested the students begin with their survey because of the experiences she and Silk had with sexual harassment at school last year.

An engaging and articulate teenager who hopes to teach college-level art someday, Silk missed 40 days of school last year after being overwhelmed by harassment pressures over his admitted sexual preference.

Silk said the taunting began in his sixth-period geometry class, but the lack of teacher intervention convinced him his only option was skipping class.

''Here I was having these feelings and I wasn't even sure about myself,'' Silk said, adding that the comments and suggestive actions from other male members of his class were more than he could handle on his own.

When the taunts intensified, Silk began skipping school. A sympathetic English teacher intervened and persuaded him to speak frankly with a guidance counselor. That counselor then sensitized his math teacher to listen for an undercurrent in her classroom.

Now that teacher, Amy Kinney, is one of two advisers to the student Gay-Straight Alliance. ''It was terrible for me to realize this was going on in my classroom, that he was suffering and I didn't realize it,'' Kinney said.

Silk hasn't missed a day of school this year because of sexual harassment, but his experiences last year proved a lightning rod for the school staff, Nicholson said.

''These students were dead-on in their presentation to the teachers,'' she said, adding she was very proud of their courage to come forward. ''Clearly, we as teachers and staff were not noticing enough of what was going on in the halls, our classrooms, or the cafeteria. And in fact, just the day after the presentation I had to stop a student in the hall when he pushed another, saying 'Oh, you are so gay.' The student denied he was being hurtful, but I had to explain what he did is not acceptable at any time.''

Harassment of gay, lesbian, and bisexual students takes a huge toll on their self-esteem and threatens their personal safety, said Pam Garramone, director of the Parents, Families, and Friends of Gay and Lesbians, a statewide support organization headquartered in Waltham.

''Gay, lesbian, and bisexual students are three times more likely to miss school because they feel unsafe, three times more likely to be injured or threatened with a weapon while at school, and four times more likely to attempt suicide,'' Garramone said, citing statistics compiled by the state Department of Education. ''The average gay student hears the word 'fag' or 'homo' 25 times a day while at school and it is just too much for them.''

Male students are much more likely to harass their peers, in part because ''we live in a heterosexual society in which men have always had the power, and we equate power with tough guy behavior,'' observed Judith Nardacci, a counselor for Parents, Families, and Friends of Gay and Lesbians. ''The culture for males is much less forgiving than it is for females.''

The students in the North Andover High School Gay-Straight Alliance are now concentrating their efforts on organizing a dance Dec. 15 where students of any sexual persuasion will feel comfortable. They are inviting other high school students from around the region who are welcome as long as they make advance reservations and come with a chaperone.

''We want a place to celebrate who we are, whatever that is,'' senior Courtney Bartlett said.

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This message has been distributed as a free informational service for the expressed interest of non-profit research and educational purposes only.

PRIMER WEBSITES

Unity Through Diversity (Long Island)
http://www.geocities.com/WestHollywood/Castro/3212/
GLSEN --- Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network
www.glsen.org
Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund
www.lambdalegal.org
Safe Schools Coalition of Washington
www.safeschools-wa.org
The P.E.R.S.O.N. Project Home Page
www.youth.org/loco/PERSONProject/

Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays
www.pflag.org
Empire State (NY) Pride Agenda
www.prideagenda.org
GLAAD
Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation
www.glaad.org
LIGALY Long Island Gay and Lesbian Youth
http://www.ligaly.com/

"The Real or Perceived Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgendered Student Protection Project"
("Being safe at school should not be a radical concept".. Jamie Nabozny)

A project of:
Coalition for Safer Schools of New York State

John Myers
Director of Operations and Programs
PO Box 2345
Malta, NY 12020
(518) 587-0176

Email: saratogany@aol.com

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