GLAADALERT
January 28, 1999
The GLAADAlert is the weekly activation tool of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation

[unrelated items omitted]

CBS Tells Gay Youth's Story

Gay Youth At Work

On January 21, CBS This Morning told the story of a young gay man in Massachusetts, and revealed the results of a poll gauging homophobia among 11th grade high school students. The story, entitled, "Gay Teen Teaches Tolerance," tells the story of Sam Hanser, a 16-year-old high school student in Newtown, MA. Hanser tells of assaults at the hands of his classmates: " 'A lot of people called me faggot and spat on me and did a lot of annoying things," says Hansen.'" But as Massachusetts was the first state to pass a law making harassment of lesbian and gay students a crime, Sam has been empowered and taken on a role of leadership. He runs a hotline for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning youth, and speaks publicly about LGBT youth issues. He closes by saying, "`I think that seeing diversity starts the whole process of being comfortable and acceptance of different people.'"

In addition, CBS released the findings of a poll done on questions of tolerance for lesbians and gay men among 11th graders nationally. Among the findings:

• a third of students knows of incidents of harassment of gay or lesbian students;
• 28 percent of students polled have made anti-gay remarks themselves;
• nearly a third of those polled have a family member or close friend who is gay or lesbian;
• among those making anti-gay remarks, boys are more than twice as likely than girls to have done so;
• those who report their parents make anti-gay remarks are more than twice as likely to do so themselves.

Contact: Al Berman, Executive Producer, This Morning, CBS Television Network, 524 W. 57th Street, New York, NY 10019-2902, fax: (212) 975-2115, email: thismorning@cbsnews.com, web site http://www.cbs.com.

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GLAAD promotes fair, accurate and inclusive representation in the media as a means of challenging homophobia and all forms of discrimination based on sexual orientation or identity.

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Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD)
glaad@glaad.org

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The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) is a national organization that promotes fair, accurate and inclusive representation of individuals and events in the media as a means of combatting homophobia and challenging discrimination based on sexual orientation or identity.
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"GLAAD" and "Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation" are registered trademarks of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, Inc.

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