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anti-gay bigotry in the schools
In 1996 Jamie Nabozny, a young gay student from northern Wisconsin, made national headlines when he and his family successfully sued the Ashland School District for failure to protect him from constant verbal and physical harassment. Throughout his school years Jamie had been heckled, beaten and even urinated on because of his sexual orientation. All of this took place openly in the halls and locker rooms of Ashland high school, and despite frequent complaints to the administration, Jamie received little or no relief from his torment.
The federal court which heard Jamie’s case found the Ashland school district guilty of failing to protect Jamie and punish his tormenters. The school district was forced to pay him $900,000.
This event five years ago brought an unprecedented amount of attention to the small town of Ashland, WI. Articles covering the case appeared in the New York Times, and MTV requested to visit the high school and speak with students (a request that the school denied). This did not however prevent the same thing from happening again, this time in nearby Duluth, MN.
Jesse Montgomery, who successively attended Lakewood Elementary School, Ordean Middle School and East High School in District 709 of Duluth, was awarded an undisclosed settlement in December after he too had been forced to sue the school district for failing to protect him from harassment.
Jesse’s harassment began way back in elementary school, and got progressively worse as he got older. In middle school he was frequently called derogatory names such as “faggot,” “fag,” “Jessica,” “princess,” “fairy,” and “bitch.” In high school the harassment escalated to the physical. Jesse reported to the school administrators that other students would come up to him and grab his genitals and buttocks, trip him, beat him up, rub up against him, and even know him to the ground and mock rape him. Students in his ninth and tenth grade choir class would grab his torso and inner thighs while chanting insults, all to the laughter of most of the students present.
Attempts by Jesse’s family to get the school to respond failed, and eventually he had to transfer to a high school in Two Harbors, a town 20 miles away from his home.
While it is fortunate that both Jesse Montgomery and Jamie Nabozny were able to win compensation, such awards, if that is an appropriate word, do little to compensate for the incredible agony these students, and thousands of others around the country, have had to go through. End anti-gay bigotry now!
The above article was written by Adam Ritscher.
