Gay Teens Face Harsher Punishments

December 6, 2010

By TARA PARKER-POPE  – New York Times –

Gay teens in the United States are far more likely to be harshly punished by schools and courts than their straight peers, according to a new study published in the medical journal Pediatrics. The findings, based on a national sample of more than 15,000 middle and high school students, come at a time of heightened attention to the plight of gay teens. While several high-profile bullying and suicide cases around the country have revealed the harassment of gay teens by their peers, the new data suggests gay teens also suffer a hidden bias when judged by school and legal authorities. “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 Kathyrn Himmelstein, the study’s lead author, who initiated the research while an undergraduate student at Yale University. Ms. Himmelstein, now a high school math teacher in New York City, began the research after spending time working in the juvenile justice system during a leave of absence from college. She noticed a disproportionate number of gay and lesbian teens in juvenile court. After co-workers confirmed the trend, Ms. Himmelstein searched the scientific literature but didn’t find any studies evaluating whether gay teens were more likely to be involved in criminal activity or more severely punished. As a result, she began conducting her own study for her senior thesis at Yale University. She used data collected from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, which followed middle and high school students for seven years beginning in 1994. The study is a broad overview of adolescent health but contained information on teen sexuality and both minor and serious misconduct. The study asked teens about nonviolent misdeeds like alcohol use, lying to parents, shoplifting and vandalism, as well as more serious crimes like using a weapon, burglary or selling drugs. Notably, teens who identified themselves as lesbian or gay or who experienced feelings of same-sex attraction were less likely to engage in violence than their peers. However, they were far more likely to be expelled from school, stopped by police, arrested or convicted of a crime. Girls who labeled themselves as lesbian or bisexual appeared to be at highest risk for punishment, experiencing 50 more police stops and about twice the risk of arrest and conviction as other girls who reported similar levels of misconduct. The study wasn’t designed to determine the reasons that behavior by gay and lesbian teens is more likely to be punished or criminalized. However, the authors speculated that the more severe punishments meted out to gay teens may reflect a bias by school and court officials. It may be that gay teens encounter homophobia in educational and child welfare systems and are less likely to receive support services than their straight peers. Or educators and court officials may be less likely to consider mitigating factors, like self defense against bullying, when dispensing punishment against a gay teen. Ms. Himmelstein said that instead of protecting gay teens from bullying and abuse by their peers, authority figures may actually be contributing to their victimization. “Our data show that lesbian, gay and bisexual youth are being excessively punished, but the data don’t say why,’’ says Ms. Himmelstein. “We weren’t able to figure out the circumstances of the punishment, but that’s something that should be investigated more in light of recent events involving bullying and harassment of gay teens by peers.’’