Lesbian, gay and bisexual teens singled out for punishment

Eurekalert.org ^ | 12/06/2010 | Kathryn Himmelstein / Staff

[Abathar]

Lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) adolescents are about 40 percent more likely than other teens to be punished by school authorities, police and the courts, according to a study by Yale University researchers. Published in the January 2011 issue of the journal Pediatrics, the study is the first to document excessive punishment of LGB youth nationwide.

"We found that virtually all types of punishment—including school expulsions, arrests, juvenile convictions, adult convictions and especially police stops—were more frequently meted out to LGB youth," said lead author Kathryn Himmelstein, who initiated the study while she was a Yale undergraduate. The research was supervised by Hannah Brueckner, professor of sociology and co-director of the Center for Research on Inequalities and the Life Course at Yale.

The study was based on the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) and included about 15,000 middle and high school students who were followed for seven years into early adulthood. The study collected details on participants' sexuality, including feelings of sexual attraction, sexual relationships and self-labeling as LGB. Add Health also surveyed participants about how frequently they engaged in a variety of misbehaviors, ranging in severity from lying to parents, to using a weapon. Add Health included detailed questions about school expulsions and contacts with the criminal justice system.

Himmelstein, who now teaches math at a public high school in New York City, said that adolescents who identified themselves as LGB were about 50 percent more likely to be stopped by police than other teenagers. Teens who reported feelings of attraction to members of the same sex, regardless of their self-identification, were more likely than other teens to be expelled from school or convicted of crimes as adults.

"Girls who labeled themselves as lesbian or bisexual were especially at risk for unequal treatment," said Himmelstein. "They reported experiencing twice as many police stops, arrests and convictions as other girls who had engaged in similar behavior. Although we did not explore the experiences of transgender youth, anecdotal reports suggest that they are similarly at risk for excessive punishment."

The study showed that these disparities in punishments are not explained by differences in the rates of misbehavior. In fact, the study showed that adolescents who identified themselves as LGB actually engaged in less violence than their peers.

"The painful, even lethal bullying that LGB youth suffer at the hands of their peers has been highlighted by recent tragic events," Himmelstein notes. "Our numbers suggest that school officials, police and judges, who should be protecting LGB youth, are instead singling them out for punishment based on their sexual orientation. LGB teens can't thrive if adults single them out for punishment because of their sexual orientation."

Brueckner added, "The study provides the first and only national estimates for over-representation of LGB youth in the criminal justice system. We simply did not have any good numbers on this before. We need more research on the processes that lead to this to help us identify ways to make our institutions more equitable with respect to policing all youth, regardless of race, gender, or sexual orientation."

Citation: Pediatrics Vol. 127, 1 (January 1, 2011)

[Abathar]

I can see a host of reasons why this might be true, and also why it might be a complete waste of time.

Asking a person who believes he/she/it is a perpetual victim from "society" to answer survey questions about their victim-hood without any verification of that answer in my mind will skew the results to the point of being useless. Acting out and calling attention to yourself is also very much part of this "lifestyle", can it be that a lot of these kids want to get in trouble for attention in the first place?

[Westbrook]

Maybe it’s because they’re 40% more likely to perceive themselves as victims, or even 40% more likely that they practice their filthy lifestyle in the open.

[rarestia]

Any CHILD walking around claiming to be LGBT is going to be a Leftist and come from a Leftist/Progressive home. Leftists are consummate troublemakers and problem children. Dragging out this victim bullshit is getting tiresome and loathsome.

I’ll be homeschooling just to keep these freaks away from my normal kids.

[MBB1984]

More than likely they are receiving the punishments because they are creating the problems or crimes.

[MBB1984]

More than likely they are receiving the punishments because they are creating the problems or crimes.

[Le Chien Rouge]

Many gays are also heavily into the drug culture which will explain why many gays have high rates of crime.

[84rules]

Maybe they engage in more rule-breaking behavior than others? Was that possible factor included in the study?

[kenmcg]

With the large number of gay, lesbian, and bi-sexual school administrators, helping to brainwash our children, this study can’t be believed.

[Jacquerie]

Hannah Brueckner, professor of sociology and co-director of the Center for Research on Inequalities and the Life Course at Yale.

And I should believe anything from this weird beard feminist nest because . . .

The "research" was probably done with a grant from taxpayers.

[silverleaf]

maybe emotionally disordered yoots engage in the majority of punishable behaviors?

Hmmmm, maybe the rocket scientists can figure this one out.....

[JTR1888]

REALLY??? As severe as the punishment against white kids just for being white? Like allowing them to be beaten, terrorized, raped and killed by racial gangs, not letting them fly the flag of their own country on their bicycles, keeping them out of colleges through quotas and denying them scholarship funds because of their race?

[GeronL]

They said the same thing about black kids didn’t they

It’s like a fill in the ______________ with the victim group

[Zeppo]

Hannah Brueckner, professor of sociology and co-director of the Center for Research on Inequalities and the Life Course at Yale.

Sounds like she's a professional victim.

Nice work, if you can get it...

/s

[Jacquerie]

Hannah Brückner (Ph.D. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2000) works on a wide range of topics related to the life course, inequality, health, gender and sexuality. She is the author of Gender Inequality in the Life Course and has published numerous chapters and articles about gender inequality in the labor force and in retirement, and the integration of women in academic workplaces. Findings from her research on adolescent health and sexual behavior were featured in news media across the country, including the New York Times and 60 Minutes. Current research projects focus on adolescent romantic relationships and timing and sequencing of family formation and career development. She has a longstanding interest in quantitative methodology and the integration of biological and sociological explanations of social structure and human behavior. She has received an Andrew W. Mellon New Directions Fellowship and research grants from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Volkswagen Foundation. She is a member of the steering committee of the Women Faculty Forum and Co-Director of the Center for Research on Inequalities and the Life Course (CIQLE).

[Sacajaweau]

Maybe there's a correlation between this screwed up behavior, a screwed up mind and everyday screwed up behavior.

They become arrogant and "entitled". Ellen and Rosie, although very different personalities, are probably good public examples.

[Graybeard58]

and especially police stops—were more frequently meted out to LGB youth,

How does a cop know you are queer before he stops you? How does he know after he stops you, unless you tell him?

[Sacajaweau]

This is a trap study....I’m betting the basis for this study is all about “profiling” and the “law”.

[Da Coyote]

“Maybe it’s because they’re 40% more likely to perceive themselves as victims, or even 40% more likely that they practice their filthy lifestyle in the open”

Beat me to it.

Agree totally.

[AppyPappy]

“Different” kids tend to be attention whores.

[fml]

Right.

"Girls who labeled themselves as lesbian or bisexual were especially at risk for unequal treatment," said Himmelstein. "They reported experiencing twice as many police stops, arrests and convictions as other girls who had engaged in similar behavior. Although we did not explore the experiences of transgender youth, anecdotal reports suggest that they are similarly at risk for excessive punishment."

Seems self labeled lesbian juvies whine more then their counterparts - or are out in greater numbers -or the fools study ignored the "normal" kids because the end justifies the means