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Two-Thirds Of Canadian LGBT Students Feel
Unsafe At School
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: May 12, 2008 - 5:00 pm ET
(Toronto, Ontario) The first national study of
LGBT students in Canada has produced shocking results in a country that prides
itself on diversity.
The survey of students from grades 8 through 12
was undertaken by Egale, Canada's national LGBT rights organization.
It found that more than two-thirds of LGBT
students feel unsafe in their schools.
A quarter of the LGBT students said they had been
victims of physical threats because of their sexuality. More than half said they
had been verbally harassed.
Almost half have had malicious rumors spread
about them on the internet or through text messages.
The survey found that harassment of LGBT students
occurred at a rate almost twice that of heterosexual students.
Harassment is also affecting learning the survey
found. More than a third of the LGBT students said they had skipped classes
because of safety concerns.
"We may have human rights for LGBTQ people in
Canada, but you'd never know it based on these results," said Helen Kennedy, executive
director of Egale.
The survey was launched in December of last year,
although some Roman Catholic schools refused to participate.
The survey was distributed in schools across the
country - in large cities, small town, rural areas, and in schools on reserves
and armed forces bases.
The Egale survey results were similar to those
found in the US in a similar questionnaire by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight
Education Network.
The GLSEN survey, released in 2005 found that
bullying and verbal harassment also is a national problem across the United
States.
The National School Climate Survey found that three-quarters
of students surveyed across America said that over the past year they heard
derogatory remarks such as "faggot" or "dyke" frequently or
often at school, and nearly nine out of ten reported hearing "that's
so gay" or "you're so gay" - meaning stupid or worthless -
frequently or often.
Over a third of students said they experienced
physical harassment at school on the basis of sexual orientation and more than a
quarter on the basis of their gender expression.
Nearly one-in-five students reported they had
been physically assaulted because of their sexual orientation and over a tenth
because of their gender expression.
©365Gay.com 2008
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