ABSTRACT
In 1995, Derek Henkle was a 14-year old student in a Gifted and Talented program in a Reno, Nevada, high school. Despite the on-going harassment and abuse he had endured because he was openly gay, Derek had expectations of graduating with honors and attending a top college. In the fall of that year, two boys strung a lasso around Derek’s neck and threatened to drag him from their pick-up truck. School officials responded to the incident by transferring Derek to an alternative high school for students with behavioral or academic problems, stating that they thought Derek would be “safer” there. His new principal demanded that Derek hide his sexual orientation and said to him, “I won’t have you acting like a fag.” After a semester Derek was transferred again for his own safety. Again Derek was told that he was not allowed to talk about his sexual orientation to other students or openly identify himself as gay. Despite the gag order, word got around. In the fall of 1996, two school police officers witnessed Derek being punched in the face six times by another student, doing nothing to break up the fight, and discouraging him from reporting the incident to school officials despite the fact that he had a ruptured eardrum and was bleeding severely. After this incident, at age 16, Derek quit school (Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, 2000).
