Burlington, VT - home of Ben & Jerry's - 'isn't a place with huge acceptance' of LGBT kids

Every ery day that Sarah goes to school she is insulted. She is told that she is hated. She is told that there is something wrong with her. She is told that she is inferior to her schoolmates. Others laugh at the insults, only making it worse. The words hurt but they go unpunished. In fact, occasionally a teacher will slight her as well. "Sometimes it feels like a gauntlet," the Burlington high school student says. It's the type of environment the provincial safe schools policy was meant to eliminate. Yet it happens. Perhaps the reason it does is that Sarah's schoolmates don't even know they are insulting her -- although sometimes they do right to her face. That's because few of them know Sarah is a lesbian. "It is very difficult to be openly gay in high school," she says. "I knew for more than two years before I told anyone, and I was terrified that the whole school would hate me."

[Gay And Proud]

The more things change the more they stay the same...

It sounds like high school hasn't changed much since I was attending it back in the 1980s. I didn't come out until I was safely away at university although I knew I was gay when I was in seventh grade.

[BossyGirl]

And i thought i had it bad 20+ yrs ago when i was in high school. The youth these days have a rough road ahead of them. I commend that young lady for standing up for herself!!

[Marc]

Bring a harrassment suit against the school and the school district, and invite the media. That might help to change their bigoted tune. Times *have* changed a lot over the past twenty to thirty years -- they just haven't changed evenly across the board or at the same pace. But I'd much rather be an openly gay man now than in '78 or '88. :)

[McMike]

I bet the Christians are pleased.

[Paul]

A good set of articles, however, this takes place in Burlington, ON, Canada and not in the US.

At least Canada recognizes same sex marriage and has at least started down the path to equal rights and recognition of the issues that face GLBT youth...

[Prince Planet]

This is unreal! Vermont of all places, and bigotry of this kind at a High School is sickening.

This is all the more reason to spread the truth. There is no such thing as God.

http://godisimaginary.com/i7.htm

[Gay And Proud]

Prince Planet wrote:

This is unreal! Vermont of all places, and bigotry of this kind at a High School is sickening.
This is all the more reason to spread the truth. There is no such thing as God.
http://godisimaginary.com/i7.htm

As Paul posted just before you, the headline was mistaken -- this Burlington is in Ontario Canada and not in the US (home of Ben & Jerry's ice cream.)

It's still sad that there is such overt homophobia in high schools, even in Canada where such great advances have been made with gay rights.

(I'm a gay Canadian, married to my same-sex spouse. We celebrate our twentieth anniversary this autumn. Oh, and we're also raising two sons we adopted from the US foster care system. We live in Minnesota at the moment but are likely going to be moving home, to the Toronto area and not far from the Burlington in the news article, within the next couple of years.)

[Prince Planet]

Gay And Proud wrote:

<quoted text>
As Paul posted just before you, the headline was mistaken -- this Burlington is in Ontario Canada and not in the US (home of Ben & Jerry's ice cream.)
It's still sad that there is such overt homophobia in high schools, even in Canada where such great advances have been made with gay rights.
(I'm a gay Canadian, married to my same-sex spouse. We celebrate our twentieth anniversary this autumn. Oh, and we're also raising two sons we adopted from the US foster care system. We live in Minnesota at the moment but are likely going to be moving home, to the Toronto area and not far from the Burlington in the news article, within the next couple of years.)

WOW! 20 years together. Congratulations!

That’s a long time, and more proof how society should focus more on encouragement of GLBT getting in long-term relationships instead of bashing us or saying we are sinful.

You know, after those 20 years you had your ups and downs but if you had to do it all over again, you would.

I live in the States, and am also thinking of moving to Toronto. As you probably know, it is not easy for an American to just up and move to Toronto or anywhere else in Canada. There is so much paperwork, fees, and I wanted to get duel citizenship, which is even more complex.

It looked to me that moving to the Montreal area is easier at first for some reason insofar as citizenship however, I don’t speak French, and I’ve been to Montreal, and last time there, they did not like to speak English unless they had to.

I love Canada. I’ve been on each side and in the middle. I like the Eastern portions most from the Soo Eastward to Montreal. The cold doesn’t bother me at all, and neither does snow so long as I have a romantic man to cuddle up with.

Thanks for reminding me of the location of the news. Either way is not good. Vermont is much like Canada. Of course, Northern parts of MN are as well when you get into Saint Louis, and Lake Counties. Obviously, it depends on the person but over all Duluth is pretty liberal.

[McMike]

Paul wrote:

A good set of articles, however, this takes place in Burlington, ON, Canada and not in the US.
At least Canada recognizes same sex marriage and has at least started down the path to equal rights and recognition of the issues that face GLBT youth...

It says A LOT when American use to make fun of Canada not too long ago and now we're just so far behind them in human rights, healthcare and just about everything else.