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Coalition for Safer Schools of NYS, PO Box 2345, Malta, NY 12020

Daily Hampshire Gazette, June 20, 1998
115 Conz Street,Northampton,MA,01060
(Fax 413-585-5222)(E-MAIL: letters@gazettenet.com)

A Teen's Death in Northampton
Homophobic behavior in schools

By LAURIE LOISEL, Staff Writer

NORTHAMPTON - In the days following last month's fatal stabbing of a city teen-ager downtown, reports filtered out suggesting the suspect, 15-year-old Matthew Santoni, had been the subject of homophobic teasing by schoolmates.

A complete picture of what went on between Santoni and Jeffrey LaMothe, the student who died of a stab wound May 22, may never be known.

It may never be clear to what extent homophobia at their school, the Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School, contributed to tension between the two.

What is known is this: The problem of homophobia within schools goes far beyond Smith Vocational. Interviews with educators and students suggest that homophobia is rampant within most schools.

Through teasing and name-calling, homophobia contributes to a sense of insecurity within schools, educators say. Many public school officials are squeamish about addressing the problem, feeling their efforts could elicit accusations they are endorsing homosexuality.

"You can't walk into any school and be there for two minutes without hearing a sexually harassing comment, and you can't be there three minutes without hearing something homophobic," said Colleen Doherty, director of the Gender Equity Center in Springfield, funded by the state Department of Education.

"It's the job of educators to intervene, and if we don't, we're setting the stage for hate crimes and violence," said Doherty, whose center, at Springfield Technical Community College, serves 36 high schools.

Interviews with students and educators indicate that words like faggot, and to a lesser extent, dyke, and terms like "you're so gay," are commonly uttered as a sort of generic insult by young people in the region.

The words often have nothing to do with the sexuality of the targeted person, students say - they have become a shorthand way simply to say something negative.

"I hear things like 'faggot' and 'Why are you being so gay?' at least 20 or 30 times a day," said Ryan Jayne, 16, who finished 10th grade Friday at Northampton High School.

Jayne says he doesn't hear that kind of talk outside school - and he thinks he knows why: "It's accepted in the school," said Jayne.

Daniel Block, the officer assigned by the Police Department to the Northampton High School and JFK Middle School, says he has observed a culture of insults and name-calling among junior high and high school students. The disparaging words he hears with startling regularity are "bitch" and "faggot."

"The terms are commonly used as a put-down," he said. "If a guy was going to use a name to call another guy, 'faggot' would be the word used."

"It's still the insult of choice and it is allowed," said Leslie Hoffman, who worked for three years as program coordinator for the state Department of Education's Safe Schools Program for Gay and Lesbian Students. "There is general agreement that the worst thing you could possibly be would be gay or lesbian."

Though she was laid off by the state Department of Education two years ago, Hoffman still conducts training sessions in schools around western Massachusetts on issues of homophobia and heterosexism.

"Teachers and administrators ignore (homophobic incidents) or feel powerless to step in and say something," said Hoffman. "Teachers seem to feel if they confront them, they are supporting homosexuality and they are going to get in trouble with parents."

Michael Zimbalist, 18, who graduated from Northampton High this month, said that during baseball season this year, he noticed a level of homophobic teasing that seemed even more intense than in the past.

"I can't go one day without hearing numerous homophobic cracks," Zimbalist said in an interview in May, while the season was still under way. "It's the basis of all insults on the team."

Similar name-calling is reported throughout the area.

"It's definitely derogatory and it's used in a very hostile way - it's meant as a verbal blow," said Michael R. Bardsley, a guidance counselor for at-risk students at Amherst Regional High School.

Bardsley said use of such words by students must be immediately challenged. "I regard name-calling as a low-grade form of violence," said Bardsley.

Phyllis Labanowski, acting director of a private high school being started in Amherst, says that she found homophobia to be endemic in the years she spent conducting training sessions on issues of equity, homophobia and heterosexism in schools in the area.

"I was probably in almost every high school in western Massachusetts and I found homophobia to be rampant," said Labanowski, who is a former staff member at the Gender Equity Center.

"The number one insult for boys is fag and it starts in elementary school."

Widely heard terms

On the campus of Smith Vocational with its assorted carpentry and metal shops, cosmetology and cooking labs and barns, the terms are flung around a lot, teachers and students there report.

Particular targets are students who choose non-traditional occupations - a boy in cosmetology or health occupations, for example is a likely target of homophobic teasing.

Carpentry students have a well-known rivalry with those in the Metal Fabrication shop, and a common put-down transforms the nickname Metal Fab into "Metal Fag."

One morning this month, an anti-gay epithet could be seen scratched into a frosted white pane of a window in the main academic building.

Students say the terms have become so common they have virtually lost all meaning.

Student Jessica Day says the practice of insulting someone by saying "you're gay" was a habit most students picked up in their elementary schools, often before they even knew what it really meant.

Though most students know what the words mean, using them is a difficult habit to break, says Day.

"Instead of it being light fun, like calling someone stupid, now actually you could find out you actually offended somebody," she said. "Now it's not something you can just use any more, because words hurt."

Inaction said error

Educators say homophobia is a problem for schools that won't go away by itself and that schools have both an opportunity and obligation to educate on the subject.

"I think it's educational malpractice to deal with this issue only once damage is done to children, which is what is happening," said Hoffman.

She and others recommend a host of steps, including a concentrated campaign within the schools that inculcates new respect for differences among people, beginning in kindergarten.

Schools should adopt clear, articulated rules against name-calling, and a policy to immediately remove any kind of hateful graffiti. Further, they should educate students about the ways such words hurts, she said.

The rule should be simple, said Hoffman, as in: "In this school we don't call anybody anything but their names."

Sharon Carlson, the elementary schools health resource teacher who also teaches at Northampton High School, said much is being done in Northampton schools to combat homophobia. One is a health class curriculum named Circle of Life, approved last year by the School Committee, which addresses all types of families, including gay-and lesbian-headed households.

Carlson a number of prevention efforts also are underway such as peer mediation and conflict resolution programs. In addition, she said, when homophobic incidents occur, are a variety of responses area called for depending on the situation. A homophobic remark would be dealt with in much the same way that a racist comment would be, she said.

"I actually think, at least in the elementary schools and the high school it (homophobic name-calling) has lessened over the last few years," said Carlson. "I've also seen kids jump on other kids for making those kinds of comments because they're not cool."

Patricia Williams, director of health education/health services for the city's schools, said the state Department of Education is giving grants of $2,000 per year to pay for programs whose purpose is to make schools safer for its gay and lesbian students.

Also in the city, money is used to pay for advisors to a gay-straight alliance at Northampton High School and for a variety of educational materials.

Bridge Street Elementary School principal Joanna McKenna said that when she arrived five years ago, she found she had to deal with homophobic insults being hurled by students with alarming frequency.

But in recent years, McKenna said, that kind of teasing has lessened considerably, with maybe three incidents a year.

When it does happen, she said, it is dealt with immediately. "We just let the kids know it isn't acceptable. My general standard is anything you wouldn't say to your parents you can't say here."

Block, the police officer, said he believes schools may be in a unique position to bring changes in attitudes that may well have been learned elsewhere.

"If you're talking about an ingrained homophobia, it's not learned in school," said Block. "In fact, school is this place where they come into contact with different groups and they are learning more about tolerance."

Still, students in the middle of it all say it is not easy to confront other students about biased language, even if they find it objectionable.

"I'll hear a racist or homophobic or sexist remark and I'll be afraid to say anything about it, because I'm afraid I'll get beat up," says Jayne, the Northampton High student. "I feel like if I say anything against them, they'll hurt me."

Zimbalist, who played on the Northampton High baseball team, says he found himself letting homophobic comments pass by him.

"I don't know if I decided it wasn't worth it, I just couldn't think of a way to approach the issue," he said.

Day, the Smith Vocational student, said she too found that doing nothing often won the day. "It's so much easier to just act as if you didn't hear it," she said.

DAILY HAMPSHIRE GAZETTE, June 20, 1998

A Teen's Death in Northampton
Why the impulse to mock?

By LAURIE LOISEL, Staff Writer

NORTHAMPTON (JUNE 20) - Many theories exist as to why, for young people, the impulse to tease and mock often takes the form of homophobic slurs.

Educators say it may be that for teen-agers, emerging sexuality is an issue that is confusing enough. The notion of homosexuality complicates matters.

"Homophobia is a developmental issue for teen-agers who are seeking and finding their own sexual identity and are certainly threatened by things which, at this age, don't seem socially acceptable," said Toni Bergins, an English teacher and drama coach at the Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School for three years.

"People are really insecure about their sexuality," says Northampton High School student Ryan Jayne, who suggests that the teasing is a way to deal with that insecurity.

Jessica Day, a student at Smith Vocational, said that attending a school in Northampton, well-known for its openly-gay community, is difficult for many students, particularly those on sports teams that have games in other cities and towns.

"A lot of us don't like saying we're from Northampton because we all think they're going to think we're lesbians," she said. "You feel embarrassed because you don't know what they've heard."

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