GLSEN reports
unsettling harassment data

Bullying and harassment are serious problems in the public schools of Ohio, Florida, and Texas, according to a study released Wednesday by the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network. The data showed that nearly one third of Texas students report that some students are bullied, called names, or harassed often because they're perceived to be gay. GLSEN chose Ohio, Florida, and Texas because none of those states have comprehensive antibullying laws. In working to pass those laws, GLSEN often discovers that lawmakers don't believe there's a problem in their state. "Everybody in America would like to think that their state is somehow different, and what we're finding with these state reports is, they're really not," said Kevin Jennings, executive director of GLSEN. "That no state has a monopoly on tolerance, and no state has a monopoly on bigotry." The survey numbers also show that there are 500,000 self-identified gay and lesbian students in those three states. He hopes the studies "wake people up" to the problem of harassment against gay students. "If there was a half a million students at risk and the term was not 'gay or lesbian,' there'd be public outrage," he said. "I hope there'll be the same kind of public outrage and that we won't somehow allow gay and lesbian students to be victimized in a way we would never allow quote-unquote 'ordinary kids' to be victimized." (Sirius OutQ News)