Kent Sued Over Abuse Of Gay Teen School District Didn’t Protect Teen From Harm, Aclu Says

A civil liberties group sued a suburban school district Wednesday in U.S. District Court for failing to protect an 18-year-old student from years of harassment and violence.

Officials, administrators and teachers in the Kent School District failed to prevent, and in some cases contributed to, harassment of Mark Iversen, the lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington contends.

Iversen said the incidents culminated in October 1996, when he was beaten by eight students in a classroom across from the school’s security office while 30 others watched.

District officials declined comment Wednesday.

“I want youths to know it’s time to take a stand,” Iversen said at an ACLU news conference. “Schools need to change. I don’t want other students to go through what I went through. It has to stop.”

The lawsuit names two district officials as well as principals at three district schools.

Alice Iversen, Mark’s mother, said she spoke repeatedly with school administrators and sent them written accounts of the incidents.

“Nothing meaningful was done,” she said. “You just feel so helpless because it goes on and on.”

A typical response, she said, was, “What have you done to start it, Mark? What can you do to stop it?”

“He was told that if he is gay, he should expect to be treated this way,” said James Talbot, Iversen’s attorney.

The district has a policy that is meant to protect all students from harassment, Talbot said. The lawsuit seeks unspecified monetary damages, stricter enforcement of the anti-harassment policy, and stronger protections in the policy for targeted students.

“District officials did not respond by enforcing their own anti-harassment policies, and by teaching tolerance and acceptance,” said Kathleen Taylor, executive director of the ACLU of Washington. “Their actions instead taught intolerance.”

Among other incidents, the lawsuit alleges Iversen was pushed into lockers with a broomstick and subjected to anti-gay epithets while two nearby teachers failed to intervene. Another teacher allegedly told Iversen, “I already have 20 girls in my class. I don’t need another.”

Iversen said the incidents started when he was in junior high school. He switched high schools four times before graduating this year from Kentwood High School.

At the news conference, the statewide Safe Schools Coalition issued its third annual report on harassment and violence. The organization has documented 77 anti-gay incidents in 25 school districts since 1994, said Tom Page, co-chairman of the coalition’s research committee.

“Over time, it escalates from name-calling to physical attacks and beyond,” Page said.