While the case catapults the issue of homophobia in schools back into the limelight, it also highlights an important dilemma. Schools can no longer be bystanders when it comes to the issue of sexual intolerance. School districts can and will be held responsible for creating an atmosphere in which bullying based on a student's sexual orientation will not be tolerated. The Morgan Hill case is a wake-up call for schools to take a serious look at how they handle harassment against gay students on their campuses.

Aaron Hans, program director at the Billy DeFrank Lesbian & Gay Community Center for gays, lesbians and transgendered people in San Jose, points out that more teenagers are coming out today than a decade ago. "In the mid-'90s we saw people in their 20s and 30s being open about their sexual orientation. But now we see seventh- and eighth-graders coming here to the center and being open about their sexuality."

Fremont High School Principal Peggy Raun-Linde, who is open about being a lesbian, says, "[Gay harassment] is definitely less now than what it was nine to 10 years ago. But that doesn't mean that it's totally gone... . Anywhere you have kids, you are going to hear insensitive language."

Slurs such as "fag," "faggot," "dyke," "homo" or "that's so gay," "stupid faggot" or "you queer" are still commonplace on school grounds. A survey conducted by the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors to assess the needs of gay, lesbian and transgender individuals found that a majority of high school and middle school students, ages 14­19, had on a daily basis "experienced or witnessed harassment in school based on a person's perceived or actual sexual orientation or gender identity."

However, teenage victims in these cases usually do not register a complaint. And there are no such complaints before the Fremont Union High School District. But this fact is misleading, because the problem is still prevalent.

Growing up quickly

Daniel Steel is a senior who attends Homestead High School through the district's New Start program. A few weeks ago, his mother, Michele Steel, answered a late-night phone call. As soon as she picked up the phone, anti-gay epithets spewed through the line.

Daniel had come out at his school this academic year. He is the president of the Gay-Straight Alliance there.

"I could tell the caller was young. I could also hear young voices laughing in the background," says Michele Steel. Though Daniel's name was never mentioned, his mother believes it was from someone in his school. "Our number is registered in the school phone book, and since the call was all about gay bashing, the person knew Dan and that he was gay," Michele says. They reported the call to the police and a case was opened.

But Daniel had been through much tougher times before that.

He was 10 when he realized he was gay. But he kept this secret to himself. He didn't tell his parents, for fear of rejection. At school, Daniel pretended to show interest in girls so nobody would suspect he was gay. But every time he heard anti-gay slurs, he cringed and lived in fear of being discovered.

His experience is typical of homosexual teens. Whether they have come out of the closet or not, they fear becoming the objects of ridicule among their friends. They fear being laughed at or even being physically harmed by their peers.

This constant state of fear, Aaron Hans says, eats up their energy. Studies by the Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network—a nationwide support system—shows that such students who do not have a supportive staff or faculty at school have an average GPA of only 2.8. And more than 24 percent of gay high school students say they do not want to go to college.

Just before his 16th birthday, Steel realized he could not continue his false life and announced to his parents that he was gay. While Steel's parents were supportive of him, they didn't want him to come out at his school.

"We really discouraged him from coming out at school because we were afraid for his safety and his mental well-being," Michele says. "You hear the worst-case scenarios are usually outside the San Francisco Bay Area. But then high schools are just brutal, and kids are awful to one another even if you are not different. And homosexuality is one of the least-accepted minorities in society, let alone high school. So we said, 'We support you, but wait. Don't come out in high school and then do whatever you want in college.' "

A turning point

For a while Steel continued his charade at school. But once he had told his parents, continuing his pretense at school became too much for the teen to handle. In November 2002, he had an emotional meltdown. He felt he was very close to being suicidal and sought help.

"I told my counselor I wanted to talk to him. Told him I was gay and I was honestly worried that I would get to the point that I would take my life," recalls Steel.

The counselor didn't take the possibility of him committing suicide lightly, because homosexual youths are three to four times more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual peers.

He called Daniel's parents and they took him to El Camino Hospital, where Daniel was given a daylong battery of tests. At one point, his mother recalls, "He was curled up in a fetal position and slept in my lap... I had tears in my eyes." At the end of the day when the doctors asked if he wanted to go home, Steel said "No."

"That's when I realized that it was so serious that he doesn't feel safe at home with me or his dad. Up until that moment I thought we'd somehow get through this. I felt very guilty saying, 'I accept you but I don't want you to tell anybody else,' " Michele says.

For the next couple of weeks Daniel received medical help. But he was not yet ready to return to school. So the Fremont Union High School District enrolled him in the New Start program, which would allow Steel to do schoolwork from home most of the time.

For Daniel it was a slow healing process. This school year he finally came out in his school and now takes a few light classes at Homestead. "But the fact is I hear the anti-gay epithets at least 10 times daily even though people know I'm gay. And it hurts every time they say it. I know they don't mean it, they're not malicious about it. I can make out when they are malicious—when they are staring straight at me. It has become so automatic and a regular part of their lives to say 'that's so gay' and 'faggot' in their circle of friends," Daniel says. His father, Miller, makes sure Steel carries a personal alarm with him every day. "It's something that will be really loud in case he gets cornered," he says.

Bending stereotypes

Ryan Ferrell is a senior at Branham High School in San Jose. He is the tall, good-looking popular guy everyone wants to be with at school. He is an honors student and a National Merit Scholarship finalist, is into theater and swimming and works on the school paper. And he's gay. Ferrell says he subconsciously knew this even from his preschool days. "Even then I had a girlfriend and a boyfriend," he says.

Ferrell has spearheaded a successful campaign to introduce anti-homophobic curriculums in health classes in a number of schools in the county.

Ferrell was determined to come out in school. "I'm a pretty tough guy and popular in school. So none of the typical gay stereotypes applied to me. And since I came out in my senior year, nobody was going to harass me," he says. Ferrell says students who come out in middle schools or much earlier in high schools have a tougher time.

In 1999, then-Gov. Gray Davis signed the California Student Safety and Violence Prevention Act—AB 537—making California the fourth state in the nation to extend protections based on sexual orientation to students in its public schools. While the law provides the general umbrella of safety, it does not draw guidelines for schools to follow to prevent or tackle such harassment.

However, studies by the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors and groups like the Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network stress the need for Gay-Straight Alliance clubs in schools to help combat harassment. These clubs are designed to work as support groups between gay and straight students and to strengthen bonds. Schools with active clubs do help create a relatively safer environment for gay students. But according to law, the clubs are not mandatory. And there's the problem of creating interest.

Monta Vista High School does not have a club this year because of lack of interest among students to run the club, says Assistant Principal Bryan Emmert.

Daniel says the GSA club at Homestead has an average weekly attendance of six. "At our peak we had 12 people and in the beginning we had only two. It is extremely difficult to get new members. There are only a few students who are out on campus and most of them don't show up for meetings due to their busy schedules or genuine disinterest in activism."

Last year, Daniel found another obstacle to recruiting club members. When he put up posters on campus, they were torn down within a few hours or by the next day. But posters for other clubs remained intact. So he tried putting under every GSA poster another sheet that said, "You are committing a hate crime." For a few days the posters remained in place. But then they came down, too.

"I don't know who does it, whether it's some student or somebody from the administration," Steel says. Now the only fliers for GSA at Homestead are inside a teacher's room.

According to law, there is no mandatory training requirement for teachers, staff and students in schools on how to address issues of harassment in classes. "Some of the schools are proactive and organize training programs or invite us for guest lectures to tackle these issues," says Rick Oculto, youth program coordinator at Billy DeFrank. Oculto is one of the most prominent youth gay rights activists in the Bay Area and works with schools on the issue.

Oculto gives a thumbs-up for schools like Lincoln High School in San Jose and Silver Creek in East San Jose, calling them "gay friendly" schools. "[Fremont Union High School District schools] are not bad," he says. "They were ignorant about the issues in the past. But now they are working at it."

Local progress

Pete Tuana, associate superintendent of the district, recalls expelling a student for gay bashing seven years ago when he was the principal at Fremont High School. "It was not just anger. The girl was physically threatening the gay student in a public place." Tuana stresses the district's zero-tolerance policy for any form of harassment. "We are not tolerant of kids who are not tolerant themselves," he says.

Fremont High School is probably one of the most proactive schools in the district when it comes to zero tolerance for any kind of harassment. It was the first campus to start a Gay-Straight Alliance back in 1997, even before there was a state law. Every summer the school runs a program called "Camp Anytown," in which 100 students are selected to work on issues of overall inclusiveness. Staff and students discuss subjects like harassment and gender bias and come up with possible solutions to those problems.

Many in the district say Fremont High is more open and has a significantly higher acceptance level for homosexuality because of its diversity. "It has the most diverse racial, ethnic and socioeconomic student body in the district. At its peak in the late '90s, there were more than 62 languages spoken on campus. It is a fairly safe place for kids to come out as gay, more than any other campus," says Larry Vilaubi, former teacher at Fremont and now assistant principal at Homestead.

Fremont's principal, Peggy Raun-Linde, has always been open about her homosexuality, but it is something she does not publicize.

"I think the school district made a remarkable statement when they appointed me the principal. My appointment was based on my merit and not on the fact that I have an alternate family setup with my partner and kids," she says. "Growing up and when I started my career, I did not think I could become a principal. But now I have a lot of respect and loyalty for the district."

Raun-Linde says it's important to create an atmosphere of trust between staff and students so a victim of harassment can go to a teacher and talk about it.

Loking forward

After having been through their own personal crises, Daniel and Ferrell are now champions of gay-rights activism in their schools. Daniel is working with his school authorities on a survey to go out to all students to assess the level of homophobia in his school. "The survey we are conducting is on slurs and name-calling. We are using it to measure the level of homophobia and intolerance on campus towards ethnic, religious, gender and sexual orientation. We plan to use the results as evidence in our proposal to the district to institute mandatory tolerance training for all staff and students," Daniel says.

Ferrell is currently working on a campaign called "End the Statistics." He is working with the Campbell Union High School District to revamp its health education to include gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transsexuals and provide in-house training for the staff.

On Jan. 22, Ferrell spoke before his school district and said, "While our district teaches diversity tolerance, it needs a separate curriculum to stop the most prevalent form of discrimination on our district's campuses. Unlike racism, a gay student may not be able to return to a welcoming home. It is imperative that every student has a safe environment. For lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students, the school may be the only possible safe place. It is up to teachers to create the safe environment, to show students there is support, and to show them that their lives are appreciated."

To learn more about the Morgan Hill Unified School District settlement visit http://www.aclunc.org/students/040106-floresfacts.html.

Important websites for parents, students and teachers:

www.pflag.org

www.gsanetwork.org

www.glsen.org

www.defrank.org

www.endthestatistic.org