Tag Archives: punished

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Administrators reprimand boy for makeup, parents petition for tolerance

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The parents of a Tampa Bay, Fla., student have started an online petition asking for improved tolerance training after their son was castigated for wearing makeup on the last day of school.

Chris Martin decided to wear black eyeliner, eye shadow and lipstick on the last day of eighth grade at Meadowlawn Middle School in St. Petersburg, Fla., The Tampa Bay Times reported. Administrators told the 14-year-old boy he was violating the dress code.

The two women who raised the teen say they understand why his shirt’s image – an anarchy symbol and sheath – violated the code but the makeup was no different than what girls wear every day.

“When I asked what was wrong with his makeup,” his mother, Jamie Himes said, “the face the principal gave me made my blood boil.”

The Pinellas County School District backed the principal’s decision. A spokeswoman for the district said there was more to the story.

“But that would mean sharing confidential student information, which I am not at liberty to discuss,” spokeswoman Melanie Marquez Parra told the newspaper in an email.

The parents started a petition on moveon.org to improve tolerance training for teachers and administrators. They say their son has been beaten up, teased and had his belongings destroyed. His parents said the school’s response has been inadequate.

In addition to training, the petition encourages schools to teach LGBT history and host Gay-Straight Alliance clubs.

“Schools need to be a safe place, and kids need to know they won’t encounter intolerance there,” Himes said. “It’s not about our son anymore, it’s about intolerance.”

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Gay youth treated worse by schools, courts

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Gay, lesbian and bisexual teenagers in the United States are far more likely to be harshly punished by schools and courts than their straight peers, even though they are less likely to engage in serious misdeeds, according to a study published in the medical journal Pediatrics.

“Gay, lesbian and bisexual kids are being punished by police, courts and by school officials, and it’s not because they’re misbehaving more,” said Kathryn E. W. Himmelstein, the study’s lead author. She began the research as an undergraduate student at Yale.

The findings were based on a national sample of more than 15,000 middle and high school students. Researchers asked young people about alcohol abuse, lying to parents, shoplifting and vandalism, along with such serious crimes as burglary and selling drugs.

The survey found that LGB youth were slightly more likely to report minor and moderate nonviolent misbehavior than their straight peers, but less likely to engage in serious crimes. But they were far more likely to be stopped by the police, arrested or convicted of a crime.

In addition, teenagers who said they had experienced feelings of same-sex attraction were more likely to have been expelled from school than other students.

Girls who labeled themselves as lesbian or bisexual appeared to be at highest risk for punishment, experiencing 50 percent more police stops and about twice the risk of arrest and conviction as heterosexual girls who reported similar levels of misconduct.

 

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Gay teens subject to harsher punishments

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Gay, lesbian and bisexual teenagers in the United States are far more likely to be harshly punished by schools and courts than their straight peers, even though they are less likely to engage in serious misdeeds, according to a study published in the medical journal Pediatrics.

“Gay, lesbian and bisexual kids are being punished by police, courts and by school officials, and it’s not because they’re misbehaving more,” said Kathryn E. W. Himmelstein, the study’s lead author. She began the research as an undergraduate student at Yale.

The findings were based on a national sample of more than 15,000 middle and high school students. Researchers asked young people about alcohol abuse, lying to parents, shoplifting and vandalism, along with such serious crimes as burglary and selling drugs.

The survey found that LGB youth were slightly more likely to report minor and moderate nonviolent misbehavior than their straight peers, but less likely to engage in serious crimes. But they were far more likely to be stopped by the police, arrested or convicted of a crime.

In addition, teenagers who said they had experienced feelings of same-sex attraction were more likely to have been expelled from school than other students.

Girls who labeled themselves as lesbian or bisexual appeared to be at highest risk for punishment, experiencing 50 percent more police stops and about twice the risk of arrest and conviction as heterosexual girls who reported similar levels of misconduct.