Gay students describe
harassment at school
Educators hear their
stories during a conference
at Drake University.
By DANA
BOONE,DesMoinesRegister.com from the Web, February 22, 2006
Des Moines, Iowa -- Emily
Frerichs of Orange City agonized about telling her classmates last year that she
is gay. Once she did, she said her real agony began, and the carefree high
school days she had known ended.
Her closest friends shunned her. Her car was vandalized. Anonymous
e-mail messages warned her that she was going to hell, she said.
"Everyday life had become a battlefield," the 17-year-old senior at MOC-Floyd
Valley High School told a Drake University conference Tuesday.
"I was no longer known as Emily, the girl who loved to sing, act, make jokes and
play guitar," she said. "Students and teachers and faculty chose to view
me as kid with some sort of sickness who needed to be cured."
Gary Richardson, superintendent at MOC-Floyd Valley, has declined to discuss
Frerichs' allegations other than to say his district has a policy that protects
all students from harassment and has never had a problem warranting specific
protection based on sexual orientation.
Frerichs and three other students Tuesday told stories of harassment to 500
educators and others at Drake University who attended the Governor's Conference
on LGBT Youth, hosted by Gov. Tom Vilsack, Lt. Gov. Sally Pederson and the Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Youth in Iowa Schools Task Force.
Advocates urged state legislation to prohibit the harassment and bullying of gay
and lesbian youth. They said too few Iowa school districts -- 77 out of
367 during the 2004-2005 school year -- have anti-discrimination policies that
include sexual orientation.
Kevin Jennings , executive director the Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network,
said school policies must specifically afford protection against bullying to gay
and lesbian youth.
"You can say, 'Oh, we shouldn't bully anyone and let's have a policy that says
that,' " he said. "But if you don't enumerate categories like sexual
orientation and race and religion, it won't work as well."
Research shows most teachers believe an anti-harassment policy that includes
sexual orientation is the top thing school districts can do to lessen or prevent
harassment and violence, he said.
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