Survey: Iowa schools,
teachers don't
protect gay students
By AP from
DesMoinesRegister.com on the Web, November 14, 2005
A survey conducted by an association
representing gay high school students shows a majority of the students say their
school offers no protection against harassment based on sexual orientation,
leaders of the group said today.
The Iowa Pride Network surveyed 175 students in 48 school districts and found
that 58 percent of the students reported their school has no policy to protect
gay students, while nearly 75 percent said faculty members rarely or never
intervened when homophobic remarks were made in their presence.
‘‘These numbers clearly indicate that a majority of Iowa schools are failing
when it comes to providing safe learning environments,’’ said Ryan Roemerman,
head of the Iowa Pride Network. ‘‘Violence and harassment continues to be
the rule, not the exception.’’
Roemerman said his group would use the results of the survey to again lobby for
an anti-bullying law in the Legislature, and would press the Iowa School Board
Association on the issue at that group’s convention later this week.
The Legislature last session rejected a bullying measure that would have forced
local schools to adopt policies aimed at protecting students from harassment
based on sexual orientation. Critics said schools have a responsibility to
protect all students and said the law wasn’t needed.
Roemerman and other gay students said the numbers they found in their survey
show that protection simply isn’t happening.
He said the survey showed that more than 90 percent of the students surveyed
reported hearing homophobic comments, and more than 83 percent said they had
been verbally abused because of their sexual orientation.
‘‘Fighting for my own security and safety at my high school has been so
difficult that I would never wish it upon any students,’’ said Emily Frerichs, a
senior at MOC-Floyd Valley High School in Orange City. ‘‘I’m not asking
for special rights. I’m asking to be protected and safe like everyone
else.’’
‘‘It’s tough going through life knowing you’re different and afraid to say you
are for fear of harassment,’’ said Tyler Moors, a junior at Carlisle High
School. ‘‘I know that’s why I waited so long to come out.’’
Amber Johnson, a senior at Council Bluffs Lewis Central, said she was asked to
leave a private high school after her first year because of her sexual
orientation.
‘‘I don’t want to pretend to be somebody that I’m not, just to get the basic
rights and treatment that my peers do,’’ Johnson said. ‘‘I don’t want to
feel isolated.’’
Advocates said they never before had statistics to prove their argument that gay
students aren’t being protected and will use the survey to pressure lawmakers
when they convene in January. They face a decidedly uphill battle in a
Legislature where the Senate is tied at 25-25, and Republicans hold a 51-49 edge
in the House.
‘‘I think the issue becomes in what form’’ protections are offered, said Senate
Republican President Jeff Lamberti, of Ankeny. ‘‘School districts and
school boards protect all students and we don’t need a law to do that. It
already is the law.’’
Conservative groups said that building in protection for gay students gives them
special status and endorses a lifestyle of which they disapprove.
‘‘This is a politically motivated study that has more to do with legitimizing
the homosexual lifestyle than stopping bullying in our schools and it’s a
shame,’’ said Mike Hartwig, of the Iowa Family Policy Council.
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