"This is a groundbreaking, historic agreement that will be used as a model across the country to deal with these issues," says attorney Zachary Stephenson, who helped represent the students.
One of the conditions of the settlement is that Anoka-Hennepin is required to hire several consultants on sex discrimination and mental health. In the running for one of those positions is Jamie Nabozny, who has firsthand experience. Growing up in small-town Wisconsin, he was shoved into lockers, urinated on and beaten so badly that he had to have stomach surgery.
In 1996, Nabozny sued the school's administrators. His bully took the stand and testified that their principal knew about the violent abuse. The jury found that Nabozny deserved equal protection based on sexual orientation under the U.S. Constitution and awarded him almost $1 million.
"That hadn't been done before," says Hayley Gorenberg, deputy legal director at Lambda Legal, the firm that represented Nabozny. "And still we're lacking a federal law that is specific on protection for students on the basis of sexual orientation."
Nabozny realized how little had changed since his experience and started speaking in schools two years ago. He has since received apologies from former classmates and even the children of his bullies.
"A lot of people in the country don't care if gay people have the right to marry — they didn't think too much about LGBT rights," Nabozny says. "Then people saw kids were killing themselves and said, 'Wait a minute, this isn't OK.' "
On a recent evening, Nabozny looked skeptically at his reflection in a multifaceted mirror. He was dressed in a sleek black tuxedo coat.
"Can't we just wear suits?" he begged.
"No," answered Bo Shafer, the man standing next to him, wearing a matching ivory tuxedo coat.
In September, Nabozny and Shafer are getting married in front of 150 guests, despite the fact that their nuptials will not be legally binding.
"We still have people who are very intolerant out there — they're fighting our right to be with who we want to be with, and love who we want to love," Nabozny explains.
"The marriage debate is much more heated and controversial. Protecting kids in school is not."
The future looks: a) 3 seashell b) Taco Bell as the sole franchise. c) Gay bullying not gay people. IMHO, the current society is encouraging to weak the people. When i was a kid, i was kicked in school but also i kicked some guys, and everybody considered it as normal. Now, if a kid is kicked or kick then it is illegal, lawyers are put in motion, the kid receive mental help (including countless of therapy and drugs) and so on... sheesh guys. It is the land of hipocrisy.
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So you know for sure what was on Tyler Clementi's mind when he jumped off the bridge --- just like the psychic jurors. Let's reverse the situation of the "victim" and see if all the media hype would be there about this case. In fact, there would be no case. If there is anything I learned from this is how unevenly the laws are applied depending on the race & ethnicity of people.
Make no mistake about who Romney is- anyone who assaulted and bullied a gay student in high school is a person of irrefutable bad character. We all know basic character is in place by high school. His "tolerance" is ambition. Put rich, privileged, homophobic and socially backward in a person and you get Romney.
Make no mistake about Romney's disdain for gays. We all know basic character is apparent by high school. This guy is an intolerant ambitious homophobe.
James, if gay-bashing is called 'tough love' nowadays, I think tough-love of the 70's has run its course. There is nothing right about any bashing at all. Not toward anyone for any reason.
Christian churches exist to teach people about Jesus and how he lived, guiding the congregation to live likewise. Ministers, just as all humans, are not perfect,..we have all sinned, meaning 'missing the mark.' Ministers, as such, are vested by the Church to be guiding members to be followers of Jesus Christ, who taught the message of Love.... of kindness, honesty, helping others, giving, not taking. Remember 'WWJD'? Jesus did not teach stoning..."Let him who is without sin cast the first stone." Ministers, just as all humans, are not perfect,..we have all sinned, meaning 'missing the mark.' If a minister is teaching mockery, hate, punishment, to steal., lie, curse, kill,....and encouraging you to teach your children likewise, then the minister has lost the way and needs help. CHRISTIANS, STAND UP FOR JESUS' TEACHINGS!
"Gay-bullying" has been encouraged by churches for decades. They see it as "tough-love". The idea is that if you give someone enough trouble over their sexual orientation, they will give up their homosexuality hobby. It has never worked.
Very good article with well-researched facts. The only improvement might be to have included that Matthew Shepard was beaten and left hanging on barbwire to die. (If someone did not know what had happened--this is an important detail.) Thank you for writing an outstanding account of the very real problem of our youth killing themselves because of harassment--just for being themselves. It IS a Civil Right matter.
The Tyler Clementi story reveals how the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. There was no evidence that Ravi disliked Clementi or that he had anti-Gay bias. People do not care what kind of person Ravi is because they project on to Ravi the type person they want him to be. For them, Ravi has to be a nasty person who hates others. There was no evidence of that. This myth about the evil Ravi is harmful to the Gay community.
Being exposed brought so much shame upon Clementi and his anger and hostility turned inward and like many Gay teens, he killed himself. Ravi did not harrass Clementi into suicide. Our society, especially our Churches, are the real culprits. We have vile people like the Santorumites actively spreading anti-bigotry, telling Gays they are inherently evil and they should kill themselves. Santorumites are elevated to the highest status in our society. Romney, as we learned, is a Santorumite also. Yet, he still runs for President. If it turned out that Mitty were Gay, that would end his candidacy.
Our culture of shame is what drove Clementi to suicide. If he had been a freshman who was nailing the senior cheerleader, he would have been Big Man on Campus. Our culture reflects us and we do not want to admit our role in Clementi's death. Take the MATTer into your hands and see if you have BEN there yourself -- what about the famous Gays who stay in the closet. What responsibility do they owe?
Just as the Santorumites persecute Gays, too many others are persecuting Ravi -- If Ravi had grown up in Bible Belt America, then I would say he knew or should have known that the video would harm Clementi. But as I understand the situation, Ravi is from India. It may never have occurred to Ravi what a vicious society we have in America.
The Gay Community should change its approach and start outing people -- it is literally life and death.
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