Posted on 09/01/2002 5:03:59 PM PDT by It'salmosttolate
Nevada School District Settles Key Gay Abuse Case
August 28, 2002 04:54 PM ET
By Andrew Quinn
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A Nevada school district will pay almost $500,000 to an openly gay student who was repeatedly bashed and brutalized in Reno public schools in a settlement deal signed on Wednesday that lawyers said could set policy precedents for schools around the country.
Derek Henkle said he was beaten, spat upon, called names and even threatened with a lasso during his years at three Reno high schools in a campaign of intimidation and harassment that literally left him fearing for his life.
Worse still, Henkle said Washoe County School District officials did little to stop the brutality -- telling him to "stop acting like a fag" and keep his sexual orientation quiet.
Henkle signed a $451,000 settlement with the school district which commits school administrators to implementing sweeping new policies designed to protect gay and lesbian students on campus.
"There were points in my childhood when I didn't know that I'd make it past my childhood, so it's great to be standing here today," Henkle, now 21, said at a news conference in San Francisco announcing the deal.
"My hope going forward is that every school district will take the message that we're sending, which is that every student deserves a safe school."
OFFICIALS ADMIT NO WRONGDOING
Officials in Washoe County, Nevada's second largest school district, confirmed the settlement details while noting they had made no admission of wrongdoing. "Our position is pretty clear: any kid that walks on to one of our campuses -- gay, straight, black, white, Muslim, Jewish, rich, poor, whatever -- deserves to be treated with respect, free of harassment, threats and intimidation," school district spokesman Steve Mulvenon said. v
Henkle's case, which was taken up by Lambda Legal, a national gay and lesbian legal nonprofit group, and the San Francisco law firm of O'Melveny & Myers, was seen as an important test of how far public school districts should go to prevent harassment of gay students.
Henkle's lawyers said Wednesday that the Washoe deal, while not setting any explicit legal precedent, would serve as a clear message to school administrators across the country that ignoring campus gay bashing can leave school districts exposed to claims of civil liability.
"This is the farthest reaching settlement in a student sex orientation case in the nation," said Jon Davidson, senior legal counsel at Lambda Legal. "This case has established the Constitutional right of gay students to be 'out' at school."
LESSONS IN FEAR
Henkle said his school troubles began at the age of 14 after he appeared on a public access television program to discuss being gay.
In his first school, students began shouting "fag" and other epithets at him, beat him up, threw him into lockers and at one point even threatened to tie a lasso around his neck and drag him down the road behind a pick-up truck.
"They said they were going to put on latex gloves so when they beat up the AIDS whore they wouldn't get AIDS," Henkle said.
Administrators reacted by transferring him to another school, where the harassment continued, and then to a third before finally sticking him into an adult education program at a local community college at the age of 16.
"I was forced from school to school, and treated like I was the problem," Henkle said. "My teachers chose not to protect me, my administrators chose not to protect me, and my school let me down."
Under the settlement agreement, county school administrators will add explicit anti-harassment protections for students who "come out" -- spurred by a Federal court ruling which, for the first time, established that gay and lesbian students have a constitutional right to discuss their sexual orientation in school settings.
Henkle, who said he plans to use part of the settlement money to pursue a college career, said he hoped his case would give hope to gay and lesbian students around the country -- at least 84 percent of gay students reported being intimidated or physically harassed at school.
"My school experience was a nightmare," Henkle said. "Kids are being beaten in America's schools on a daily basis."
... It's directly analogous to a student trying to sue over tripping over his own low-rider gang-banger pants, AFTER a teacher/admin ADVISES/ORDERS him to PULL UP HIS PANTS AND WEAR A $&%#ing BELT!
I hate that too and I see it all the time.
Second off, I have to disagree with this part of your reply ...
... this "settlement" basically makes the school administrators RESPONSIBLE for guaranteeing this queer's "right" to troll for other perverted sex partners ON CAMPUS when he's SUPPOSED to be learning INTELLECTUAL (not sexual) matters ...
It seems that it wasn't the student who was as concerned with his sexuality as it was the other students who harassed and beat him up because of it. You don't know (and either do I) anything about him "trolling" for perverted sex but I'll make the guess that whether he did or didn't troll had anything to do with it.
Again, I'll say that the school district handled it badly and it cost them big time. Not only in money but also in the publicity that GLAAD can get from it (as you mentioned). Kids who have a tendency to beat up other kids don't give a fig whether the kid is actually gay or not, or even acts "like a fag" ... the school should have tossed them out first off (or suspended them at least), and the issue would have been closed. I can't buy into the "I couldn't help myself, his queerness made me beat him up" defense.
Bump
Double bump!
... I am sorry if I sound homophobic, or worse ...
No, don't worry, you're not sounding homophobic, just practical.
... No person should accost another for any reason ...
That's all anyone else here has said too ... I'm glad you agree.
... please, all you misunderstood folks, stop trying to convince my children that it is ok to be a pervert ...
I you're referring to me or to anyone else on this thread, you're mistaken. I understand your need to make a statement like that, but don't pretend that being against beating up gay kids is the same as saying its OK to be a pervert, it doesn't follow or fit here.
... God said it is wrong, and I believe HIM ...
Amen
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I agree completely with both of you. You make excellent points and subsequently make up two nominations for Panther33's Post of the Day award (a useless award that I made up a few weeks ago).
Well thank you, I'm honored anyway.
We need to stop ALL assaults on school grounds, my friends. If my classmates still did that sort of thing as grownups, they would be in jail right now.
The ironic thing was that many of the kids at my school were the children of cops.
compared with the vicious intolerance shown for the expression of normal viewpoints on this sick, disgusting, perversion.
boi
Except...the ones who are being punished are the taxpaying parents/citizens of the community. They're out the money and the insurance premiums. The thugs are not serving some jumpsuit time. The principal may be embarrassed, but he's not out any money.
I don't understand the justice here. An abused kid gets money...this is justice? There isn't enough money to pay off this intangible hurt. And those who did no harm have to pay it.
Are you referring to the school district or the taxpayers? The school district and the teachers are just as much at fault as the kids who terrorized the homosexual. They failed to do their duty in protecting one of their students.
If you are talking about the taxpayers having to cough up the cash, I see your point completely. But I still say that this case wouldn't have gotten as bad as it did if the school would have ended the violence when it first started.
I was skinny, slight, and intellectual, so they called me a fag. And I'm not and never was gay, though I do have my own little sexual procilivity towards the junoesque woman. Lucky I didn't go to school in Beverly Hills, they'd probably have beat me up for that, too.
Appears on television---ridiculous.
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