High School Seniors Give Massive OK to Gay Rights

Survey: Wide Support for Laws, Social Change, But Harassment, Name Calling Plague Schools

Following from Reuters, 8/31/2001

U.S. high school seniors hold more liberal views on gay issues 

than American adults of all ages, but schools remain a "hostile 

environment" for gay students, a survey released yesterday found.

The random poll of 1,003 high school seniors designed by 

Hamilton College and conducted by Zogby International (editor's note - many 

Zogby polls favor conservatives, because of their methodology, and are often 

Quoted by Rush Limbaugh and other talk hosts) found that 85 percent of the 

Teens polled thought gay men and lesbians should be accepted by society.

Two-thirds of those surveyed said gay marriages should be legal, 

compared to only about one-third of adults overall in recent polls, and 68 percent 

of  the seniors said gay couples should be allowed to adopt children.

Eighty-eight percent supported hate-crimes legislation and 79 

Percent favored anti-discrimination laws protecting gay people.

"Large majorities of seniors take pro-gay positions on relevant gay 

issues," said professor Dennis Gilbert, of Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y., 

whose survey research class designed the poll, conducted in March. "And 

virtually every definable demographic group took these positions," with the 

exception of evangelical or born-again Christians, Gilbert said, adding that the

students "were consistently more liberal [on gay issues]. . .than older Americans.

Despite the apparent overwhelming support for gay people, however, the 

Survey found U.S. high schools remain a largely hostile environment for gay

students, with nearly half having witnessed students being called  “faggot,"

"homo" or "dyke" to their faces.

Some 88 percent said the phrase "that's so gay" is used to describe 

Something that is disliked.

Fifty-three percent of the survey's said gay issues have not been 

Discussed in any of their classes. Thirteen percent said their school had an

organization to support gay students. And 59 percent said openly gay 

students attended their school.

Despite voicing strong support for gay people in general terms, the 

Seniors expressed a much lower comfort level with specific hypothetical 

situations.  While 62 percent said they would be comfortable in a class taught by a 

gay man, only 43 percent were comfortable with the idea of a gay, 

same-sex, lab partner. Thirty-eight percent were OK with a gay teammate who used the 

same locker room. Only 31.5 percent said they would be comfortable at a party 

with both gay and straight couples. *  (Editor's note - We could find no information comparing these results with earlier surveys