Gay-Straight Alliance says Wisconsin schools unsafe

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students are not safe in Wisconsin schools, representatives of the new Ashland High School Gay-Straight Alliance told the Ashland School Board on Monday night. Alliance members Alexis Nabozny, Anna Terry and Sydney Watson said surveys indicate that 88 percent of such students in this state have been harassed by classmates, and 21 percent have been physically assaulted. They said the Alliance will try to produce a safer learning environment for all AHS students. They said they have been verbally abused at school for their sexual orientation, but they did not say that any Alliance member has been physically harmed by other students. “By connecting students together and helping them find themselves, we hope to create a more diverse community where everyone can freely be themselves without worry of harassment,” an Alliance pamphlet states.