ACLU and Statewide Coalition Announce Largest Ever Study of Anti-Gay Harassment in Schools, Showing Strong Need and Proven Solutions

Study Providing That Schools Can Take Steps To Improve Student Safety Has National Implications for Addressing Harassment on the Basis of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity

LOS ANGELES - Despite an anti-harassment law that took effect four years ago this month, harassment and bullying based on sexual orientation remain persistent and pervasive in California schools. 7.5% of California's middle and high school students, more than 200,000 students every year, are targets of harassment based on actual or perceived sexual orientation, according to a study released by the California Safe Schools Coalition, a statewide coalition of experts and advocates of which the ACLU is a leading member. The Coalition is working to implement the California Student Safety and Violence Prevention Act of 2000, which prohibited discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in California schools. The Safe Place to Learn study found that widespread bullying has dangerous academic, health and safety consequences for students - but it also found that such bullying is preventable.

"We've just completed the largest ever study of the problem of anti-gay harassment in schools," said Christopher Calhoun of the ACLU of Southern California, a member organization of the California Safe Schools Coalition, "and the numbers paint a stark picture. For most students targeted on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, California's groundbreaking school nondiscrimination law is still an empty promise."

"It's time for school districts and the state to wake up to a health epidemic of shocking proportions and with serious consequences," said Calhoun. "This problem cannot be trivialized or denied. Fortunately, our research also demonstrates that schools can take clear steps to prevent this problem."

Among the findings in the Safe Place to Learn Study are:

Data from the CHKS show that these 200,000 students harassed on the basis of actual or perceived sexual orientation are

' three times more likely to miss school because they feel unsafe,

' more than twice as likely to be depressed, to consider suicide, or to make a plan for suicide.

' more likely to have low grades, use drugs, smoke, drink alcohol, or be victims of violence.

' more likely to report weaker connections to peers, community, teachers and other adults - critical safety nets for any young person.

The in-depth companion survey found that school campuses in California are hostile climates for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students and gender non-conforming students.

' Two in every three LGBT students reported harassment based on sexual orientation, and 47% of LGBT students experienced repeated harassment.

' Almost half of their peers agree that their school is not safe for LGBT students.

' 91% of all students report hearing their peers use slurs about sexual orientation.

' More than 40% reported hearing teachers making such negative comments or slurs.

' In addition, 27% of students reported being harassed because they weren't "masculine enough" or "feminine enough," and more than half of all students said their schools are unsafe for boys who aren't as masculine as other boys.

The Safe Place to Learn study proves the effectiveness of several specific steps schools can take including posting and enforcing anti-harassment policies that specifically include sexual orientation and gender identity, training teachers and staff to intervene when slurs are used, and supporting efforts to establish Gay Straight Alliance clubs on campus. These steps result in reducing harassment and name-calling, improving students' feelings of safety, and strengthening their connections to community and adults.

"Students deserve to learn in an environment that helps them reach their full potential," said Molly O'Shaughnessy, the Director of the California Safe Schools Coalition. "This study proves that schools can take these specific steps to reach that goal."

California is among nine states with laws against discrimination or harassment in schools based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

"As more and more states pass nondiscrimination laws, and as lawsuits proliferate, schools are beginning to realize they need solutions," said Calhoun. "Our report provides research-based solutions to this national epidemic and can help schools comply with the law and create a safe place to learn for all students."

The Safe Place to Learn study, which analyzes survey responses from more than 237,000 students who took the California Healthy Kids Survey, it includes 26-times more respondents than any other survey on the issue in the nation. It is also the first comprehensive statewide analysis of harassment based on sexual orientation and gender nonconformity in California, where more than one-in-eight of the nation's children are growing up.

The report analyzes data from the California Healthy Kids Survey (CHKS), a broad-based state survey, and an independent companion survey conducted by the California Safe Schools Coalition measuring the effectiveness of school anti-harassment practices. The data were analyzed by the California Safe Schools Coalition and researchers at UC Davis' 4-H Center for Youth Development.

Members of the California Safe Schools Coalition include the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California; Anti-Defamation League; California Teachers Association; Equality California; Gay-Straight Alliance Network; Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network; Human Rights Watch; L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center; National Center for Lesbian Rights; Parents, Friends and Families of Lesbians and Gays; San Diego LGBT Community Center; Transgender Law Center; and Women's Educational Media.

(LOS ANGELES) Today the 9th Circuit ruled in favor of artist Tom Forsythe in a case involving the artist's use of the Barbie doll in his art work and Mattel's efforts to suppress that use through invoking copyright and trademark infringement. The court handed the litigious toymaker a decisive defeat, all but eliminating its hopes of preventing artists from using the image of its iconic doll to critique the values they believe it represents.

"The Ninth Circuit made a very strong statement on behalf of artists' free speech and cultural criticism in the context of corporate intellectual property," said Annette Hurst, who argued the case before the Ninth Circuit and is attorney with the firm Howard Rice Nemerovski Canady Falk & Rabkin. "In light of the Court's strong direction that attorneys' fees should also be awarded, Mattel's directors and shareholders must now consider whether protracted and expensive losing legal battles against artists are really a good expenditure of corporate resources."

"We are very pleased by the Court of Appeals' decision, which accepted virtually argument we made in support of the District Court's ruling granting summary judgment to Mr. Forsythe," said Doug Winthrop, also of Howard Rice Nemerovski Canady Falk & Rabkin. "This is a complete victory for Tom Forsythe and for other artists and commentators who have been attacked by overly-aggressive intellectual property owners. We also are very pleased by the Court of Appeals' reversal of the District Court's ruling denying Forsythe's request for $1.6 million in attorneys' fees. We think the writing is on the wall that Mattel is going to have to pay a substantial sum for having brought this baseless action."

The case, Mattel v. Walking Mountain Productions, centered on the corporate control of public symbols and the issue of whether artists have the right to transform the intellectual property of others in order to criticize such symbols and comment on society.

Artist Tom Forsythe, of Kanab, Utah, has used Barbie dolls to parody Barbie's embodiment of America's culture of consumption and conformism. His "Food Chain Barbie" series of photos appeared in galleries and won critical acclaim in juried competitions. In August of 1999, Mattel sued the artist for copyright and trademark infringement. The firm Howard, Rice and the ACLU of Southern California stepped in to stop Mattel's use of litigation as a method of bullying artists into abandoning their First Amendment rights.

"Today's ruling is a critical victory in the effort to maintain our right to speak out and critique a world increasingly dominated by corporate speech and brands," said Peter Eliasberg, Managing Attorney at the ACLU of Southern California. "The Ninth Circuit made it absolutely clear that the corporate world can't ban satire."

LOS ANGELES - Today, at 11:00 A.M., the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California announced the filing of a class-action lawsuit to end discriminatory treatment of girls' softball players in the City of La Puente. The legal complaint, filed by the ACLU/SC in federal court today, claims that the girls are "being denied equal and adequate access to City-owned resources made available to the local boys' baseball league, on the basis of their gender."

The case was filed by nine girls on behalf of all girls who play softball in the City of La Puente. The nine plaintiffs range in age from 9-17 years.

"This week, as we watch the nation's most competitive teams play in the World Series, we are putting the City on notice that boys aren't the only ones with big league dreams," said Ranjana Natarajan, staff attorney with the ACLU/SC. "The girls of La Puente deserve better than this - they deserve an equal playing field."

The suit documents the blatant inequality that exists between the facilities used by local boys' teams and girls' softball teams. For example, boys enjoy fields with level grass and dirt, bullpen areas, new and operational concession stands, stadium lighting for night games, metal bleachers, clean restrooms, paved parking lots, equipment storage space, scoreboards, functional sound systems, and are maintained at least in part by the City. The girls' fields lack each of these attributes.

The girls, their parents, and coaches have made repeated public requests to City officials, including the Mayor and City Council, for access to City-owned playing fields. The City has consistently denied these requests and failed to improve the girls' facilities.

"These girls face some daunting challenges in their communities," said Soly Perez, staff attorney with the ACLU/SC. "Whereas the average high school female drop out rate in the entire state is 2.5 percent, the drop out rate in the Hacienda La Puente Unified School District is more than three times that amount at 7.7 percent. Experts agree that girls who participate in extracurricular activities, especially sports, substantially decrease their risk of dropping out of school. These girls have plenty of hurdles to overcome. Having to fight the City to gain the respect and equality they are legally entitled to should not be added to that list."

"Girls leave La Puente to play in other softball leagues because they have better facilities," said Amorette Avila, a 17 year-old pitcher on a team called Girls In Black. "If we had better facilities, we could play better and get noticed by recruiters. It would also help girls get softball scholarships."

"We're not asking for special treatment - we just want to play on nice, safe fields, just like the boys," she added.