One gay man remembers his high school years filled with loneliness, fear and self-hatred. Another man recalls spending every lunch period in a bathroom stall. A lesbian recollects her bottling up all her emotions and silencing all impulsive gestures, terrified of saying or doing anything to betray her own secret. Unusual memories? Not at all. .
Most gay people, and many of today's gay teens in high school, can describe similar tales. In most teenagers" lives, they experience a wonderful four years of high school; but gay teenagers experience something much different. These students go through school trying to fit in and just be accepted by the society around them. In many cases, there is good that comes from being gay and being out (to state ones sexuality) in school, but the bad things will always overpower the good. A study done in 1995 by the US Department of Health and Human Services showed that gay and lesbian youths are 35% more likely to go through with suicide. Every year that rate gets higher and higher. Now is the time to look past indifference and see a person for who that person is. a human being. .
In many high schools across the nation, there are at least a handful of kids in each high school that are gay, lesbian, and/or bisexual but are hiding themselves. In other words, they are playing straight (acting heterosexual). In an average high school "about 3%" of students are actually gay, with "about 1%" of those students who are out to everyone. (Hopkins, Gary) .
On average, a high school student, gay or straight, will hear "anti-gay remarks about 25-40 times" in one school day. (Hopkins, Gary) Out of all the verbal abuse heard, "80% of it is failed to be reported" due to the fact that students are not confident with their sexuality yet. .
A survey done in 1996 on over 8,400 high school students by The Safe School Anti-Violence Project reported some interesting statistics.