ABSTRACT

Jamie Nabozny was continually harassed and physically abused by his fellow students throughout his middle school and high school years because he is homosexual. Classmates called him “faggot” and “queer.” In seventh grade, two students performed a mock rape on him in science class in front of 20 other students, who looked on and laughed. When Jaime reported the incident, the principal told him that “boys will be boys” and that he should expect such treatment from his fellow students if he is going to be openly gay. No action was taken against the students involved. In eighth and in ninth grades, Jamie suffered assaults in the school bathroom, including an incident in which he was pushed into a urinal and urinated on by his attackers. In 10th grade, he was pelted with steel nuts and bolts. The same year, he was beaten in school by eight boys while other students looked on and laughed. When Jamie reported the incident, the school official in charge of discipline laughed and told him that he deserved such treatment because he is gay. He later collapsed from internal bleeding that resulted from the beating (Nabozny v. Podlesny, 1996). Jamie subsequently filed a Section 1983 lawsuit in federal court against school officials at his school.