Anti-Gay Harassment in Schools VERMONT § COMMISSEON A high school student comes out to his friends; when the word gets out, the name-call- ing starts. Pretty soon, he can’t walk down the hall without someone calling him “faggot,” and when the harassment becomes more than he can bear, he quits school. In anoth- er school, the daughter of a les- bian mother gets bombarded daily with sneering questions about her own orientation. The vice principal of yet another high school tells the members of the school’s gay-straight alliance that if they want to invite a speaker from Outright Vermont to a diversity day event, they will also have to invite a speaker from an ex-gay ministry to represent the “other side.” In another part of the state, a college administrator refuses to allow a lesbian cou- ple to live in married student housing. . Incidents like this are all too common. Each of them was reported to the Vermont Human Rights Commission. Unfortunately, the great major- ity of ‘anti-gay harassment in schools never gets reported, either to school administrators or to the Human Rights Commission. Vermont is one of the few states that prohibit discrimina- tion based upon sexual orienta- tion in housing, employment, and public accommodations, including schools. These laws require schools to take steps to eliminate sexual orientation discrimination and to make efforts to provide a safe envi- ronment for GLBT students. This means that school staff may not discriminate against you or harass you because of your sexual orientation, or per- ceived sexual orientation. Just as important, schools must take steps to prevent and stop stu- dent-to-student harassment based on sexual orientation. It’s important to recognize that not all anti-gay incidents fall under the definition of harassment. A single case of name-calling or a random piece of graffiti by itself may not amount to illegal harass- ment. Harassing conduct must be sufficiently severe, persist- ent or pervasive to limit a stu- dent’s ability to participate in or benefit from an educational program, or to create a hostile or abusive educational envi- ronment. However, the con- duct need not be severe, per- sistent and pervasive at the‘ Human Rights Commission By Harvey Golubock and Sam Abel—Palmer Unfortunately, the great majority of anti-gay harass- ment in schools never gets reported, either to school administrators or to the Human Rights Commission. same time. For example, a sin- gle serious threat of physical violence, for example, could qualify as harassment. A school must have notice of harassment before it is responsible for taking action to stop it. In other words, the school administration is responsible for harassment where it actually knew of the harassment or where it reason- ably should know about the harassment. A school has notice of harassment if a stu- dent complains to an adminis- I trator, ateachér or other appro- priate personnel, or if someone in authority witnesses or hears about the harassment. If a school knows of some inci- dents, it may be obligated to investigate in order to learn if other similar incidents have taken place. A school may be expected to know about the harassment if the harassment is pervasive or widespread, open- ly practiced, or well known, such as, for example, incidents in hallways where staff are present, graffiti in public spaces, or incidents that hap- pen while a teacher is supervis- ing students. This notice requirement can cause major difficulties. If a student is not out to her par- ents, she probably won’t want ‘to tell anyone that other stu- dents are harassing her for being a lesbian. Or a boy may be subject to anti-gay harass- ment if he does not exhibit suf- ficiently “macho” behavior, even though he may be straight, or only beginning to question his sexuality, and so may want to hide all evidence of the harassment. Yet without some notice that the harass- ment is taking place, the school is not responsible for taking action to stop it. Ideally, a stu- dent will find a sympathetic teacher or counselor who can help in the reporting process, or a support group such as Outright Vermont to facilitate communication. The Human Rights Commission typically ' takes steps to protect the iden- tity of minors involved in investigations. Once a school has notice of alleged harassment, it must take immediate and appropri- ate steps to investigate what happened. If a school discov- ers that harassing incidents have taken place, it must then take steps reasonably calculat- ed to end the harassment, elim- inate the hostile environment, prevent the harassment from recurring, and remedy the effects of the harassment. The actual form this action takes is largely up to the school admin- (istration, but typically involves some kind of counseling, warning, or disciplinary action, as well as wider educational programs aimed at preventing further incidents in the school community as a whole. If the initial steps are not effective in stopping harassment, the school may need to take a series of disciplinary actions of increasing severity, until the harassing behavior stops and the hostile environment is repaired. Despite Vermont’s strong laws, anti-gay harassment remains a pervasive problem in our schools. We can work to reduce the scope of this prob- lem through educational pro- grams for students, teachers, and school administrators. But we also need to make sure that schools know about harass- ment and fulfill their legal obli- gation to stop it and to protect GLBT students. Harvey Golubock is Executive Director of the Vermont Human Rights Commission. Sam Abel- Palmer is an Investigator with the Commission. The Commission may be contacted at 800-416-2010. ' june 2001 OlTl‘1 - 17 CONTEMPORARY DENTALCARE .P.C. LAUREN J. SHANARD D.D.S. Providing the finest quality dental care available, in a warm and relaxed environment. 75 TALCOTT RoAD, SUITE 60 WILLISTON, VERMONT 05495 802.878.9888 Janet Langdon, M. Div. Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Pastoral Counseling Individuals & Couples River Road, Putney, VT 05346 802-387-5547 Practice limited to male clientele THERAPEUTIC MASSAGE William Coil, NCMT 802-658-2390 800-830-5025 Lisa Grlgg, D.0. 49 North Main Street - Wallingtord. VT 05773 802/446-2430 fax: 802/446-6182 www.simply-medicinacom - Email: gunan12@aol.com Swedish Massage LEON D. 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