Gay and lesbian teens are punished more at school and by police

Published: 
Tuesday, December 7, 2010

LGBT teenagers are more likely than their peers to be punished by schools, police and the courts, according to a recent Washington Post article which cites the first nationwide study of its kind to highlight these important issues.

The study found that LGBT youth are 40% more likely to receive educational and criminal justice-related punishments, such as expulsions, police stops, arrests and incarceration.  And, it found that girls are especially at risk for unequal treatment.  “The most striking difference was for lesbian and bisexual girls, and they were two to three times as likely as girls with similar behavior to be punished.”

These studies confirm what the ACLU has known for a long time: that LGBT students are often discriminated against from a young age, which denies them equal access to education and robs them of future opportunities.

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