Gay students get the right to date
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.MASSACHUSETTS is about to adopt a pioneering law that will make it the first state in the union to ban discrimination against gay and lesbian students in public high schools.
Under a bill passed this week by the Massachusetts Senate and about to be signed into law by the Republican governor, William Weld, gay victims of campus harassment and violence will be able to sue their schools.
The bill, which was bitterly fought by conservative and religious groups, aims to allow gay students to take full part in the official and unofficial rituals of high school - on the sports field, in campus clubs and associations - and even to take a same-sex partner to the annual prom or leavers' party, traditionally one of the milestones of adolescent life.
But its advocates also hope it will tackle other less trumpeted problems of gay pupils - their proneness to drop out of school early, and an alarmingly high suicide rate. According to one study, homosexuals account for 30 per cent of teenage suicides.
The passage of the bill is a tribute to a lobbying campaign in which hundreds of students, heterosexual as well as gay, took their case to every senator at the Boston statehouse. It also underlines the striking position of the 48-year-old Mr Weld, often mentioned as a future Republican contender for the White House, within his own party.
Although what is perhaps the most staunchly Democratic state has had Republican governors before, none has offered Mr Weld's combination of rigid pro-private sector, anti-public spending economic views with outspoken liberalism on abortion and gay rights. Government 'should stay out of your pocketbook and out of your bedroom', he told the 1992 Republican convention in Houston. Once a National Rifle Association supporter, he has become a strong advocate of gun control.
But not everyone agrees with Mr Weld's policies. The real purpose of the gay bill, said the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, 'is to introduce homosexual programmes into public schools'.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments