Date: Tue, 9 Jan 1996 06:13:52 -0800 From: jessea@uclink2.berkeley.edu (Jessea NR Greenman) Subject: WA State Safe Schools alert: follow-up needed [note from The P.E.R.S.O.N. Project: we've been having trouble with our email since Friday. There is a large batch of messages sent since then which we've not received. The trouble should be fixed by Thursday. If you emailed us and had no reply, that's why. Please bear with us until the end of this week. Thanks. Jessea] The Safe Schools Coalition released its second annual report in Fall of 1995, documenting 27 incidents of violence against Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender youth in Washington State public schools. The coalition is a partnership of 34 public agencies and private organizations working to make Washington public schools safe places for sexual minority youth, as well as their families and educators. The coalition called for school boards, teachers and parents to take steps to protect sexual minority youth. At a press conference in Seattle, Beth Reis, a member of the Seattle-King County Health Department, said the group documented six incidents of gang rape of sexual minority teens. "In two of the rapes the attackers also urinated on their targets," she said. "In one incident they vomited on the person. In one they ejaculated on the person. In one they broke the teen's hand. "We received reports of five other physical assaults," Reis said. "Two involved serious beatings of three youth; two of the three youth were treated in emergency rooms. One youth ran away from home and lived in a park until her wounds healed so her parents wouldn't have to know what happened to her." In one incident, a 12-year-old boy was anally raped with various objects by four other sixth graders and two high school students who swore at him with language he refused to repeat, Reis said. Another Gay teenager was held down by male classmates while he was raped by a girl while he was told to chose "between fucking a girl and having his cock cut off." In another incident in the coalition's report, two teenage girls who are lovers were attacked by four male students and forced to have sex in front of them. The attackers then broke one girl's hand, raped the other girl, and beat the couple. Reis reported six incidents involving physical harassment and assault short of rape. The attackers spit on targeted youth, brushed up against them, threw things at them, or pulled their clothes off. Five other victims told accounts of routine verbal harassment, threats, vandalism, and rumors being spread about them. In some cases the steady barrage of harassment lasted over a year. Finally, the coalition reported that although the name-calling incidents may not seem as serious as rape and assault, they were part of a pattern. They were public incidents -- all witnessed -- and they sometimes went unchallenged by adults, thus setting the tone for the possibility of greater violence. The offenders outnumbered the victims three against one. Four youth dropped out as a result of the harassment. Three told of suicide or attempts. The mother of one Gay teen reported that her son had killed himself. The 27 incidents were reported in 18 schools from King, Pierce, Snohomish, Thurston and Yakima counties, and included 12 high schools, three middle schools, and three elementary schools. The incidents are believed to be only the tip of the iceberg. The incidents were evenly divided between male and female victims, and 25 percent were ethnic minorities. "These 27 reports are just a fraction of what children experience in our schools," Reis said. "The fact that we didn't hear from your school district doesn't mean that they're any safer than the ones mentioned in these reports." The children and teens who reported the incidents often were afraid to tell anyone what had happened to them, even their own parents, Reis said. "The other sobering finding was that half of these children did not feel that they could turn to their parents or guardians for support," she said. "We hope parents will hear that and decide it is time to talk. "We found that a third of the incidents had never been reported to the schools," Reis continued. "Some of the incidents were never shared with a living soul until they were reported to the Safe Schools Coalition." Something has to change, she said. Marilyn Cass, president of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) and a member of the Safe Schools Coalition, called for school administrators, teachers and parents to protect Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender youth from violence and harassment. "As a mother, I am outraged that this violence and harassment can occur in the schools to which we entrust our children," she said. "Every parent and every child in our state needs to realize that this kind of violence destroys the environment of safety and learning for every single child, regardless of sexual orientation." Speaking for the coalition, Cass called "on every school district in the state to develop policies immediately and to empower every faculty and staff member to intervene in every instance of harassment, and offer protection to the children that are so vulnerable." The coalition urged all school districts to enact and implement sexual harassment policies that explicitly includes sexual orientation; to publish these policies in student handbooks; and announce the policies in faculty and student assemblies whenever sexual harassment is discussed. The Coalition urged educators to intervene when children and other adults use slurs such as "queers, dykes, fags, homos, sissies," just as they would for racial slurs. School nurses and counselors were urged to display books and posters to alert sexual minority students that they were safe to talk to. The coalition urged parents and guardians to teach young people how to protect themselves and how to stand up to the harassment that they see. They were also encouraged to teach accurate information and respectful messages about Gays and Lesbians. Cass urged parents and grandparents to let Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender kids know they're safe. "Parents and grandparents can say to our children, 'Whether you're happy or hurting, whether you're loved or in danger, I hope you will come to me. I'll always stand by you.' " Cass said. "These are the messages that will help our children to live, learn and flourish." The coalition gathered the information through telephone interviews with children and teens who called an advertised hot line. Most of the attacks took place in the past year. To protect the students' privacy, the researchers did not attempt to corroborate the accounts and are not revealing where the attacks took place. The survey was believed to be the only one of its kind in the nation, its organizers and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force said. The coalition's first report last year found 23 anti-gay attacks, many of them name-calling. ``This report confirms that our gay or lesbian children are at huge risk, and even children who are simply perceived to be gay or lesbian, and may not be,'' said Marilyn Cass, a chapter president of coalition member Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays. One rape and two other attacks were at elementary schools, the report said. The others happened at middle schools or high schools. Besides the gang rapes, eight other sexual assaults were reported. Only one of the rapes was reported to police and the outcome of the case was not immediately known. Nine of the 27 attacks were not reported to school staff because students feared retribution, wanted to protect someone or believed nothing would be done, the coalition said. Of the other attacks, the response by school staff varied. In some cases, teachers failed to stop harassment, the report said. However, none of the sexual assaults were witnessed by school staff, said Beth Reis. Judith Billings, state superintendent of public instruction, said after the release of the report that her office would review the report and take action. ****The P.E.R.S.O.N. Project notes that follow-up is needed with Billings office to MAKE SURE THAT APPROPRIATE ACTION IS TAKEN. Unfortunately, the State Department of Education is one of those offices that would appear not to accord much thought to LGBT equity. This became our opinion after a series of letters were sent to the Department of Education and not one was answered. Is this the tragic side effect of the assault on LGBT human rights taking place through repeated homophobic initiatives in the state OR is it the result of individualized homophobia on the part of a few in the DOE mailroom and/or executive offices? State Office of Education 206-753-6738 Judith Billings, State Superintendent of Public Instruction State Department of Education Old Capitol Bldg. Mail Stop FG-11 Olympia WA 98504 Despite the lack of state DOE response to our inquiries, there IS an "Office of Equity Education" within the State Superintendent of Public Instruction's office and it HAS supported the work of the Safe Schools Coalition, which has sought to utilize existing school sexual harassment policies to prevent homophobic harassment. Contact Darcy Lees, Program Supervisor of the Office for Equity Education for the Office of the Washington State Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) (206) 753-2560. *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ YOU MAY RE-POST. Jessea Greenman The P.E.R.S.O.N. Project*; ph/fax: 510-601-8883, 586 62nd St. Oakland, CA 94609-1245 Gopher to "gopher.outright.com" Web sites: http://www.youth.org/loco/PERSONProject/ http://www1.usa1.com/~furball/glb/person.html/ http://www.pride.net/pridenet/person The P.E.R.S.O.N. Project is *always* looking for volunteer organizers. Please cc us (for our files) on correspondence you send or receive re our action alerts. *Public Education Regarding Sexual Orientation Nationally.