New York, NY — Aug. 27, 2001 — Nearly 90 percent of high school
seniors report widespread harassment of gays and lesbians in their
schools, according to a national survey released today by Hamilton College and MTV.
Eighty-eight percent of seniors say the phrase "That's so gay," is
used by students at their school to talk about something they don't
like, and half have seen classmates insult gay students by calling them
"faggot," "homo," "dyke" or a similar name.
The poll of 1,000 high school seniors was developed by Hamilton
College and administered by Zogby International. The release of
the survey coincides with the Sept. 3 premiere at 10:30 p.m. of the
first "Fight for Your Rights: Take a Stand Against Discrimination"
episode of Flipped, MTV's newest reality-based series.
"The good news for gays and their advocates is that the big majority
of students surveyed have strongly pro-gay opinions and they are much
more liberal than adults on issues from gay marriages to gay
Scoutmasters," said Hamilton Professor of Sociology Dennis
Gilbert. "On the other hand, the graduates express doubts about
their own comfort level with gays and report widespread abuse of gay
classmates. There is a 30 percent minority we call 'anti-gays'
who hold strongly negative opinions toward homosexuals."
As part of their analysis, the Hamilton researchers compared the
results of their poll with recent national adult polls administered by
Gallup, The Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, Harris, CNN/USAToday and Fox News.
Although more than seven in 10 high school seniors would allow gay
men to serve as Scout leaders, according to the poll, 39 percent say
"gay lifestyles are morally wrong." Similarly, 63 percent of high
school seniors said they would be comfortable with a gay male math
teacher, but only 31 percent said they would feel comfortable at a
party attended by both straight and gay couples.
Among other interesting findings in the report is the belief by 71
percent of high school seniors that sexual relations between same-sex
adults should be legal (compared with 54 percent of adults who hold the
same opinion), and the view held by 62 percent of seniors that
homosexuality is "the way that some people choose to live" rather than
something gays are "born with" (23 percent). In addition, six in
10 high school seniors say that some of their classmates were "openly"
gay, but only 13 percent knew of gay-support groups at their schools.
The Gay Issues Poll was designed and analyzed by Gilbert and a group
of Hamilton College students. The sampling and calling were
administered by Zogby International to a national sample of 1,003 high
school seniors in calls made the week of March 18. Results are
accurate within plus or minus three percentage points. Funding
for the study was provided by The Arthur Levitt Public Affairs Center
at Hamilton College.
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