Several years ago two of my friends were victims of a hate crime in their junior high, and nothing was done about it. Their classmate beat the shit out of them in front of two teachers who watched and did nothing. This happened after over a year of physical and physiological abuse by their classmates. Why was this ignored? They were gay. Had this attack happened anywhere else, it probably would have been prosecuted as a hate crime, but since they and their attackers were so young it was ignored completely. They have never recovered emotionally.
As adults we would like to pretend youth don't become aware of their sexual identity until they reach highschool, but this is simply untrue. No matter what a child's sexual orientation, junior high is often a confusing and difficult time in one's life. Schools completely ignore youth of that age are beginning to come to terms with their sexuality. Youth are afraid to discuss this issue with adults, because of the judgmental attitudes many adults see as socially appropriate when discussing sexuality with children that age. Ignoring youth's sexuality doesn't change the reality of it, but it creates an extremely judgmental environment of ignorance, insecurity, and peer pressure, which results in unplanned pregnancy, STD transmission, low self esteem, and suicide.
Given adult's prudish attitudes about the sexuality of children in that age range, any display of alternative sexuality is scorned. Many adults, both liberal and conservative, would like to imagine that there are no LGBT students in Junior high. We forbid the subject, ignore the abuse of children who don't follow proper gender roles, and allow hate crimes against the few students who do come out. This has catastrophic consequences for too many young people, and it needs to stop.
As adults, we must put children's safety ahead of our prejudices, and start taking the issue of rampant homophobia at the junior highs level seriously.
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