If your school hesitates to do something about anti-LGBT harassment, you should let them know about the following successful - and expensive - student harassment lawsuits.  This summary reinforces the importance of adopting and enforcing LGBT-inclusive safe schools policies and training faculty on how to prevent harassment.

2005 - The Tonganoxie School District in Kansas was ordered by a federal jury to pay $250,000 to a heterosexual teenager who suffered anti-gay taunting for four years.  Dylan J. Theno, who was perceived as gay by some of his classmates, testified that other students spread rumors about him, threatened him, and called him "bitch," "fag," and "homo."  He finally dropped out of school during his junior because the harassment, which had begun when was in 7th grade, had become unbearable.  Theno said he reported the harassment to administrators, but eventually stopped complaining because they didn't do anything. The school district contended students often casually called each other by those names.

2005 - Joseph Ramelli and Megan Donovan, two gay former high school students from California, were awarded $300,000 by a jury that found school officials failed to act to protect them even after becoming aware of the harassment the students were experiencing.  Both students from Poway High School, near San Diego, were repeatedly threatened, and Ramelli was spit on, kicked, punched, and his car was vandalized.  Ramelli and Donovan were home-schooled during their senior year because they could no longer handle the constant harassment. The jury awarded $125,000 to Donovan and $175,000 to Ramelli.

2004 - The New Jersey Division on Civil Rights ordered the Toms River Regional School District to pay $50,000 to a boy who was slapped, punched and repeatedly taunted by classmates who perceived him as gay. The districe was also fined $10,000, ordered to pay $10,000 to the student's mother, and required to toughen its policies against gay-bashing.  This was the first New Jersey case to determine how much school administrators must do to protect students from discrimination by other students, and it holds school officials to the same tough standards that employers must enforce in the workplace. 

2004 - U.S. District Court in Des Moines awarded over $27,000 to Tyler Rothmeyer, a former high school student from Perry, Iowa who was subjected to physical and verbal abuse over three years.  The adults who were supposed to protect students from abuse, ranging from teachers to the high school resource officer, all ignored or did not take Rothmeyer's claims of harassment seriously.

2003 - A federal appeals court (covering the western region of the U.S.) affirmed that schools can be held liable when they deliberately ignore anti-gay harassment.  In response to a lawsuit brought by six former students of a California school system, the court said schools must take steps to eliminate harassment once they know it's happening.  The case is Flores v. Morgan Hill Unified School District. 

2002 - The Washoe County School District in Nevada settled a lawsuit brought by Derek Henkle, a gay student who was harassed for years in district schools.  The district paid Henkle $451,000 in damages.  The district also agreed to adopt LGBT-inclusive safe schools policies and implement an anti-harassment training program for school staff.

2002 - The Visalia Unified School District in California settled a lawsuit brought by George Loomis, a gay student who was harassed by teachers and students.  The school district paid Loomis $130,000 in damages, and it also agreed to a sweeping package of reforms that included changes to the schools policies and anti-harassment trainings for staff and students.

2002 - The Titusville School District in Pennsylvania settled a harassment lawsuit brought by Timothy Dahle, a gay student who says he was forced to drop out of school because he could no longer bear the harassment.  After first claiming Dahle never complained about the harassment, the school district suddenly ended the lawsuit and paid him $312,000.

2000 - The Somerset Independent School District in Kentucky settled a harassment lawsuit brought by Bradley Putman who suffered anti-gay harassment and death threats.  The school paid Putman $135,000 and agreed to adopt a more stringent anti-harassment policy.

1998 - A federal court in Kentucky found that the Spencer County School District failed to take adequate measures to stop the harassment of Alma McGowen, who was perceived to be a lesbian by her classmates.  The federal jury awarded McGowen $220,000.  A federal appeals court later upheld that jury decision.

1998 - The Kent School District in Washington settled a lawsuit brought by Mark Iversen who was harassed for years at the school.  The school paid Iversen $41,000 and agreed to enforce their existing anti-harassment policy and train staff about anti-gay harassment.

1998 - In a historic ruling, a federal appeals court ruled that  schools can be held liable for  deliberately ignoring anti-gay harassment.  Jamie Nabozny sued his school in rural Wisconsin after harassment escalated into a mock rape by a group of students.  The school paid Nabozny nearly one million dollars.  The case is called Nabozny v. Podlesny.