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NEWS & LETTERS, OCTOBER 2003Harvey Milk schoolNew York--Opening day at Harvey Milk High School featured a "battle" between anti-gays on one side of the street and, on the other side, several hundred supporters to protect the students entering the nation's first public high school for queer youth. The anti-gay minister Fred Phelps (who picketed Matthew Shepard's funeral) led about nine of his minions in the Bible-waving and chanting. Harvey Milk was given $13.2 million by the City to expand. This covers a very small percentage of the necessary openings. It is long known that LGBT youth face a greater degree of bullying than any other students in American high schools. A 2001 Human Rights Watch report stated that this group has not been getting an education. Students come to Harvey Milk as "safety transfers." The system shifts students out where they're physically or emotionally abused. Most of Milk High's population (there are some non-LGBTs) were tormented by their classmates because of their perceived or actual sexuality. Two students said that they had previously attempted suicide. New York is one of 42 states that don't offer legal protection to students based on their sexuality. --Sheila |
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