For all the outcry over harassment of gays after the murder of college student Matthew Shepard in 1998, anti-gay insults are still the slang of choice among children and teenagers, according to teachers, counselors and youths. Some say the insults are increasing in school classrooms and hallways -- among children as young as 8 or 9 -- partly because gay youths and their supporters have become more visible. [...] Anti-gay language often first appears on elementary school playgrounds. "Kids at our school say, 'That kid is sooo gay,' '' said Julia Pernick, a classmate of Emmett's in fourth grade at Chevy Chase Elementary. "They think it means stupid or unusual or strange.'' [...] "Kids sign their yearbooks'' with anti-gay insults. [...] Gay students also don't feel they can count on adults for help. According to several surveys, four out of five gay students say they don't know one supportive adult at school. "Teachers are aware they may offend someone if they speak about homosexuality in anything other than negative terms,'' said Deborah Roffman, who teaches sex education in the Baltimore and Washington areas. "They don't know how to cross that street safely, so they don't even step off the curb.''
Ah. Progress.
Copyright © 2001, Iain Jackson, after-words.org
[Archives: 2001 and after]
Archives before February 5, 2001
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12/19/2001: vive la france
12/19/2001: princess, redux
12/19/2001: yemen and rumsfeld
12/18/2001: you're NOT in the army now
12/18/2001: interesting donation
12/18/2001: shame on winn dixie, indeed
12/18/2001: saudi princess
12/17/2001: new resolve
12/17/2001: a victim of the attack ... yeah, right
12/17/2001: polluters ho!