Nearly 90% of high school seniors witness Harassment of gays and lesbians at their school

http://www.zogby.com ^ | August 27, 2001 | ZOGBY

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

Nearly 90% of high school seniors witness
Harassment of gays and lesbians at their school
Hamilton College/MTV poll reveals
Comments such as "that's so gay," "faggot,"
"homo," and "dyke" are ever-present
In American high schools

MTV's fight for your rights episode of flipped examining homophobia to premiere at 10:30 pm on monday, september 3^rd in conjunction with poll release

August 27, 2001 (New York, NY) - A survey of 1000 high school seniors, released today by hamilton college and mtv and conducted by zogby international, found a hostile environment for gays and lesbians in american high schools.  88% of seniors say the phrase "that's so gay" is used by students at their school to talk about something they don't like, and half have seen classmates insult gay students by calling them "faggot, homo, dyke"; or a similar name.

"Even though high school seniors tend to hold liberal, pro-gay opinions on many issues, gays still face a hostile environment in school," said Hamilton College Professor of Sociology Dennis Gilbert, who developed the poll with his students.

The poll ties in to the September 3^rd premiere at 10:30 pm of a Fight For Your Rights:  take a stand against discrimination episode of Flipped, MTV's newest reality-based series.  in the show, a homophobic teen is asked by MTV to be a reporter and cover the gay community.  He joins a meeting for a gay teen support group and learns just how harmful using words such as "that's so gay" and "faggot" (both of which are highlighted in the survey) can actually be.  He is also shocked and horrified when a new found friend is killed in a gay-bashing incident.

The poll had several other key findings in addition to the ones listed above.  It found that young people are accepting of gays and much more liberal than adults on gay issues.  Over 85% of graduates say that gays and lesbians "should be accepted by society" and 88% favor laws to protect gays against hate crimes.  The poll also revealed, however, that there are few resources currently in place to deal with the often difficult issues young gays and lesbians face.  87% of students said that their high school lacks an organization to support homosexual students, and a majority said that issues concerning homosexuality or gay rights have never been discussed in their high school classes. 

 Summary of key poll findings

• 88% report they have heard classmates use the phrase "that's so gay" and half have heard gay students called "faggot," "homo," "dyke," or a similar name
• Over 85% say that gays and lesbians "should be accepted by society" and over 77% agree that "gay people contribute in unique and positive ways to society."
• 88% favor laws to protect gays against hate crimes and 79% favor laws to protect gays against job discrimination.
• 66% say marriages between homosexuals should be recognized by law as valid with the same rights as traditional marriage, while only one-third of adults hold this position.

Comments about gays from high school seniors

Quotes from seniors interviewed by Hamilton student poll researchers:

• "Who they are as a person is more important than who they sleep with or love. It shouldn't be a big deal."
• "Flaming homosexuals are just weird and gross. But if they don't flash it there's nothing wrong with it."
• "I don't like fags. I want to beat their queer asses."
• "God made them that way. Let them be."

The Hamilton College/MTV gay issues poll is a national survey of 1000 high school seniors, covering their attitudes toward gays and gay political issues.  the survey, conducted March 16-20, 2001, measures tolerance of gays, comfort in the presence of gays, and opinions on political and policy issues. The poll was designed by Hamilton Professor Dennis Gilbert and his students, financed by Hamilton College's Arthur Levitt Public Affairs Center, and conducted by Zogby International.

The complete hamilton/mtv gay issues poll is available at the following url: www.hamilton.edu/news/gayissuespoll/gay-issues.html

Contact: Sharon Rippey, Hamilton College Media Relations, 315-859-4680 or Allison Bennett, MTV Communications, 212-846-8655.

[HennepinPrisoner]

And at those workshops, tax-payer-funded employees teach fisting,...

Much better now! The "f" word, in the true FR spirit, shows up early on homosexual threads.

On the thread about the Salvation Army funding, it wa not mentioned until post #86. I was beginning to think FR lost its touch! LOL

[babygene]

That's my point. Their whole life style is derogatory. How can you refer to them in a way that isn't derogatory? I bet if you refered to them as "normal" they would be offended...

[VMI70]

I was raised outside of Washington, DC, (I can't say "grew up" because according to most, that has not yet happened) and we called it "maul ball". It was great fun! In those days we had to wear a coat and tie to school, (imagine that) and mother would really get mad when I got home with grass stained pants, blood on my ripped shirt, and the knot on my tie was so small that you needed a marlin spike to get it undone. That was in the 7th grade, and you know, I don't think I even knew queers existed. As a society, we certainly have coarsened since then. Sad.

FReegards,

[Billthedrill]

an unacceptable pattern of behavior, much like smoking, or canabalism, or rooting for the New York Yankees, and so on.

Hey! What have you got against cannibals, anyway?

I might point out that one gay calling another one a "queer," which they do on occasion, would show up in this survey as an instance of harrassment, so we might take this one with a grain of salt.

[1rudeboy]

This poll is so gay.

[VMI70]

See my #43-Sorry I did not include you.

FReegards,

[Malcolm]

This points to a future where most kids will be home-schooled or private-schooled, since gov't insists on indoctrinating students in the art of homosexuality. I didn't know any "homos" when I was in high school in the late 70s in suburban Atlanta; calling someone a fag was meant as a general insult, not necessarily to identify their sexual preference. Since I haven't been in a school in 25 years, maybe there are openly homosexual students in attendence now. All the more argument to take your children home, or to a private school, to separate them from the forced acceptance of something they should not have to confront until as late in childhood as possible.....

[breakem]

Take a breath. You took my post wrong. I didn't know the symbol for sarcasm.

[FormerLib]

Interracial marriage has nothing to do with morality, flaunting sexual deviance does.

[Kevin Curry]

The more the schools try to force acceptance of homoseuxal behavior as "normal" the more resistence so-called gays and lesbians will encounter--even if only in a passive aggressive sense. On the surface most teenagers may buy into sheepthink crapola and parrot the politically correct mantra that "gay is good." At the deeper levels of their souls they know full well that it is not, and they abhor it.

[FormerLib]

>>>On the thread about the Salvation Army funding, it wa not mentioned until post #86. I was beginning to think FR lost its touch! LOL<<<

Regarding post #41. The liberal disruptors are like cockroaches.

[xm177e2]

Nearly 90% of high school seniors witness Harassment of gays and lesbians at their school

And the other 10% are lying about it.

If "that's so gay" qualifies as harassment, then far more than 90% of all high school seniors have witnessed it.

I can't imagine anyone NOT seeing it.

[Storm Orphan]

Oh don't be harsh on the boys. They are desperately trying to prove their manliness by being vulgar
and crass. (Has absolutely nothing to do with their own self-doubts about their sexuality. No, nothing.)

[FITZ]

Next they'll make normal teenage behavior "politically incorrect" and forbid it. I remember witnessing all kinds of harassment, it's the way it's always been and always will be in high school and during the adolescent years. All kinds of straight kids are also called queers and fags as in insult so the homosexuals shouldn't be so offended over it. There's also insults like "geeky", "nerd", and millions more.

[MarcusTheSecond]

"maybe a fairy can face the fact that God made a mistake with his choice of sexual partner."

My God doesn't make mistakes.