Abuse of Gay Students Rampant, Study Finds
May 30 -- The United States gets a failing grade when it comes to protecting gay teens from harassment in school, according to a new report from the group Human Rights Watch.
The study released today says gay teens often face so much bullying that it affects their emotional and physical health, not to mention their academic performance. It alleges that some teens are bullied so often that they are barely able to get an education.
Sixteen-year-old Dominick Halse told ABCNEWS' Claire Shipman that he arrives at his school in Castleton on Hudson, N.Y., before all the other kids every day in order to avoid some of the torment he's faced over the years as a gay teen.
"There was boys that said they would like to kill me and drag me behind a car, or take me to an island with all the other gays and shoot me," he says. "You don't need death threats as a child… it's hard."
The HRW report suggests that high school can indeed be a terrifying experience for gay teens. Based on interviews with more than 250 students and teachers and parents in seven states, the study finds that treatment of gay students in American public schools constitutes a human rights issue.
Getting it From All Sides
"You've got 2 million kids dealing with this," says Widney Brown of Human Rights Watch. "You've got their peers harassing them because they've gotten the message that it's OK. And you've got the adults in their lives — teachers, administrators, politicians and their communities — totally failing to protect them."
As a result, gay teens may devise their own methods for avoiding such abuse.
Halse says he's come up with different ways to protect himself against physical abuse from other students during the school day. "I cannot use the boys' restroom," he said. "I go to the bathroom in the nurse's office… or there's a single restroom in the cafeteria that I go to, because you live in fear."
Though he is an excellent student and a talented musician, Halse spends as little time in school as possible. In fact, he plans to graduate a year early.
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