In Michele Bachmann’s home district, evangelicals have been waging war against gay teens. After a rash of

suicides, the kids Above: A candlelight are fighting back vigil in Minneapolis for the victims By Sabrina of gay bullying. Right: An anti-suicide Rubin Erdely memorial poster.

SCHOOL50 | Rolling Stone | rollingstone.com February 16, 2012 OFFebruary 16, 2012 HATErollingstone.com | Rolling Stone | 51 SCHOOL OF HATE

very morning, brittany geldert Alliance club, as a safe haven for mis- where woodlands abruptly give way to stepped off the bus and bolted through the fits like them, although the club’s prog- strip malls and then fall back to ­placid double doors of Fred Moore Middle School, ress was stalled by the school district that, woodlands again, and the landscape is among other things, was queasy about the dotted with churches. The district, which her nerves already on high alert, bracing for club’s flagrant use of the word “gay.” Reli- spans two counties, is so geographical- the inevitable. gious conservatives have called GSAs “sex ly huge as to be a sort of cross section of “Dyke.” clubs,” and sure enough, the local religious America itself, with its small minority Pretending not to hear, Brittany would right loudly objected to them. “This is an population clustered at its southern tip, assault on moral standards,” read one re- white suburban sprawl in its center and walk briskly to her locker, past the sixth-, cent letter to the community paper. “Let’s sparsely populated farmland in the north. seventh- and eighth-graders who loitered stop this dangerous nonsense before it’s It also offers a snapshot of America in eco- in menacing packs. too late and more young boys and girls nomic crisis: In an area where just 20 per- “Whore.” are encouraged to ‘come out’ and practice cent of adults have college educations, the Like many 13-year-olds, Brittany knew their ‘gayness’ right in their own school’s recession hit hard, and foreclosures and homosexual club.” unemployment have become the norm. seventh grade was a living hell. But what Brittany admired Sam’s courage, and For years, the area has also bred a deep she didn’t know was that she was caught in tried to mimic her insouciance and sto- strain of religious conservatism. At church- the crossfire of a culture war being waged icism. So Brittany was bewildered when es like First Baptist Church of Anoka, pa- by local evangelicals inspired by their high-profile congressional represen- one day in November 2009, on the school rishioners believe that homosexuality is bus home, a sixth-grade boy slid in next to a form of mental illness caused by ­family tative Michele Bachmann, who graduated from ­Anoka High School and, her and asked quaveringly, “Did you hear dysfunction, childhood trauma and expo- until recently, was a member of one of the most conservative ­churches Sam said she’s going to kill herself?” sure to pornography – a perversion cur- in the area. When Christian activists who considered gays an abomina- Brittany considered the question. No able through intensive therapy. It’s a point tion forced a measure through the school board forbidding the discus- way. How many times had she seen Sam of view shared by their congresswoman roll her eyes and announce, “Ugh, I’m Tragedy in the ­Michele Bachmann, who has called ho- sion of homosexuality in the district’s public schools, kids like Brittany gonna kill myself” over some insignificant Suburbs mosexuality a form of “sexual dysfunction” were unknowingly thrust into the heart of violating the districtwide policy requir- thing? “Don’t worry, you’ll see Sam tomor- that amounts to “personal enslavement.” of a clash that was about to become inter- ing school personnel to stay “neutral” on row,” Brittany reassured her friend as they Above: Thirteen-year-old Samantha In 1993, Bachmann, a proponent of school twined with tragedy. issues of homosexuality. All Brittany knew got off the bus. But as she trudged toward Johnson’s suicide after being bullied was prayer and creationism, co-founded the Brittany didn’t look like most girls in was that she was on her own, vulnerable her house, she couldn’t stop turning it over the start of a wave of what one child New Heights charter school in the town of blue-collar Anoka, Minnesota, a former and ashamed, and needed to find her best in her mind. A boy in the district had al- psychologist says was a “suicide cluster,” Stillwater, only to flee the board amid an logging town on the Rum River, a conven- friend, Samantha, fast. ready committed suicide just days into a lethal contagion when “kids feel that the outcry that the school was promoting a re- tional place that takes pride in its annual Like Brittany, eighth-grader Samantha the school year – TJ Hayes, a 16-year-old normal response to stress is to take your ligious curriculum. Bachmann also is affil- life.” Left: Johnson’s best friend, Brittany Halloween parade – it bills itself the “Hal- Johnson was a husky tomboy too, outgoing at Blaine High School – so she knew such Geldert, became suicidal after Sam’s death. iated with the ultraright Minnesota Family loween Capital of the World.” Brittany was with a big smile and a silly streak to match things were possible. But Sam Johnson? Council, headlining a fundraiser for them a low-voiced, stocky girl who dressed in Brittany’s own. Sam was also bullied for Brittany tried to keep the thought at bay. last spring alongside Newt Gingrich. baggy jeans and her dad’s Marine Corps her look – short hair, dark clothing, lack Finally, she confided in her mother. There was another common thread: on gays are not only discriminatory, but Though Bachmann doesn’t live within sweatshirts. By age 13, she’d been taunt- of girly affect – but she merrily shrugged “This isn’t something you kid about, Four of the nine dead were either gay or also foster an environment of unchecked Anoka-Hennepin’s boundaries anymore, ed as a “cunt” and “cock muncher” long off the abuse. When Sam’s volley­ball team- Brittany,” her mom scolded, snatching the perceived as such by other kids, and were anti-gay bullying. The Department she has a dowdier doppelgänger there in before such words had made much sense. mates’ taunting got rough – barring her kitchen cordless and taking it down the reportedly bullied. The tragedies come at a of Justice has begun a civil rights inves- the form of anti-gay crusader Barb Ander­ When she told administrators about the from the girls’ locker room, yelling, “You’re hall to call the Johnsons. A minute later national moment when bullying is on every- tigation as well. The Anoka-­Hennepin son. A bespectacled grandmother with abuse, they were strangely unrespon- a guy!” – she simply stopped going to prac- she returned, her face a mask of shock one’s lips, and a devastating number of gay school district declined to comment on lemony-blond hair she curls in severe- sive, even though bullying was a subject tice. After school, Sam would encourage and terror. “Honey, I’m so sorry. We’re teens across the country are in the news any specific incidences but denies any dis- ly toward­ her face, Anderson is a former often discussed in school-board meetings. Brittany to join her in privately mocking too late,” she said tonelessly as ­Brittany’s for killing themselves. Suicide rates among crimination, maintaining that its broad district Spanish teacher and a longtime The district maintained a comprehensive their tormentors, and the girls would pa- knees buckled; 13-year-old Sam had gay and lesbian kids are frighteningly high, anti-bullying policy is meant to protect researcher for the MFC who’s been fight- five-page anti-bullying policy, and held rade around Brittany’s house speaking in climbed into the bathtub after school and with attempt rates four times that of their all students. “We are not a homophobic ing gay influence in local schools for two diversity trainings on racial and gender Valley Girl squeals, wearing bras over their shot herself in the mouth with her own straight counterparts; studies show that district, and to be vilified for this is very dec­ades, ever since she discovered that sensitivity. Yet when it came to ­Brittany’s shirts, collapsing in laughter. They’d be- hunting rifle. No one at school had seen one-third of all gay youth have attempt- frustrating,” says superintendent Den- her nephew’s health class was teaching harassment, school officials usually told come as close as sisters in the year since her suicide coming. ed suicide at some point (versus 13 percent nis Carlson,­ who blames right-wingers homosexuality as normal. “That really her to ignore it, always glossing over the Sam had moved from North Dakota fol- No one saw the rest of them coming, of hetero kids), and that internalized ho- and gay activists for choosing the area as got me on a journey,” she said in a radio sexually charged insults. Like the time lowing her parents’ divorce, and Sam had either. mophobia contributes to suicide risk. a battleground, describing the district as interview. When the Anoka-­Hennepin Brittany had complained about being quickly become Brittany’s beacon. Sam Against this supercharged backdrop, the victim in this fracas. “People are using district’s sex-ed­ curriculum came up for called a “fat dyke”: The school’s principal, was even helping to start a Gay Straight am’s death lit the fuse the Anoka-Hennepin school district finds kids as pawns in this political debate,” he ­re-evaluation in 1994, Anderson and four looking pained, had suggested Brittany of a suicide epidemic that itself in the spotlight not only for the sheer says. “I find that abhorrent.” like-­minded parents managed to get on prepare herself for the next round of teas- would take the lives of nine number of suicides but because it is ac- Ironically, that’s exactly the charge that the review committee. They argued that ing with snappy comebacks – “I can lose local students in under two cused of having contributed to the death students, teachers and grieving parents any form of gay tolerance in school is the weight, but you’re stuck with your ugly years, a rate so high that child toll by cultivating an extreme anti-gay are hurling at the school district. “Saman- ­actually an insidious means of promoting face” – never acknowledging she had been “GAY STUDENTS DON’T Spsychologist Dan Reidenberg, executive climate. “LGBTQ students don’t feel safe tha got caught up in a political battle that homosexuality – that openly discussing called a “dyke.” As though that part was director of the Minnesota-based Suicide at school,” says Anoka Middle School for I didn’t know about,” says Sam Johnson’s the matter would encourage kids to try it, OK. As though the fact that Brittany was FEEL SAFE,” SAYS ONE Awareness Voices of Education, declared the Arts teacher Jefferson ­Fietek, using mother, Michele. “And you know whose turning straight kids gay. bisexual made her fair game. EDUCATOR. “THEY’RE the Anoka-­Hennepin school district the the acronym for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, fault it is? The people who make their liv- “Open your eyes, people,” Anderson re- So maybe she was a fat dyke, Brittany site of a “suicide cluster,” adding that the Transgender and Questioning. “They’re ing off of saying they’re going to take care cently wrote to the local newspaper. “What thought morosely; maybe she deserved BULLIED, SHAMED, crisis might hold an element of contagion; made to feel ashamed of who they are. of our kids.” if a 15-year-old is seduced into homosex- the teasing. She would have been shocked AND NO ONE STANDS suicidal thoughts had become catchy, like They’re bullied. And there’s no one to Located a half-hour north of Minne- ual behavior and then contracts AIDS?” to know the truth behind the adults’ inac- a ­lethal virus. “Here you had a large num- stand up for them, because teachers are apolis, the 13 sprawling towns that make Her agenda mimics that of Focus on the tion: No one would come to her aid for fear UP FOR THEM ber of suicides that are really closely con- afraid of being fired.” up the Anoka-Hennepin school district – Family, the national evangelical Christian BECAUSE TEACHERS nected, all within one school district, in a The Southern Poverty Law Center and Minnesota’s largest, with 39,000 kids – organization founded by James Dobson; Contributing editor Sabrina Rubin small amount of time,” explains Reiden- the National Center for Lesbian Rights seems an unlikely place for such a battle.­ Family Councils, though technically inde- Erdely wrote “The Catholic Church’s ARE AFRAID OF berg. “Kids started to feel that the normal have filed a lawsuit on behalf of five stu- It’s a soothingly flat, 172-square-mile ex- pendent of Focus on the Family, work on

Secret Sex Files” in RS 1139. BEING FIRED.” response to stress was to take your life.” PREVIOUS SPREAD, FROM LEFT: RICHARD TSONG-TAATARII/“MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE”/ZUMA; ABC NEWSPAPERS. THIS PAGE, FROM TOP: COURTESY OF MICHELE JOHNSON; COURTESY OF MICHAEL GELDERT dents, alleging the school district’s policies panse sliced by the Mississippi River, the state level to accomplish Focus’ core

52 | Rolling Stone | rollingstone.com February 16, 2012 February 16, 2012 rollingstone.com | Rolling Stone | 53 SCHOOL OF HATE goals, including promoting prayer in pub- trict’s fourth casualty: a boy who had never girlfriends who cherished him for his as homosexuality but to appease the area’s lic spaces, “defending marriage” by lobby­ publicly identified as gay, but had nonethe- sweet, sunny disposition. He played cello evangelical activists. So the legal depart- ing for anti-gay legislation, and fighting less been teased as such. Suicide number in the orchestra, practicing for hours up ment wrote a broad new course of action gay tolerance in public schools under the five followed, that of recent Blaine High in his room, where he’d covered one wall with language intended to give a respect- guise of preserving parental authority – School grad Kevin Buchman, who had no with mementos of good times: taped- ful nod to the topic – but also an equal reasoning that government-­mandated apparent LGBT connection. Before the end up movie-ticket stubs, gum wrappers, measure of respect to the anti-­gay con- acceptance of gays undermines the tradi- of the school year there would be a sixth Christmas cards. Justin had even ­briefly tingent. The new policy was circulated to tional values taught in Christian homes. suicide, 15-year-old July Barrick of Cham- dated a boy, a 17-year-old he’d met on- staff without a word of introduction. (Par- At the close of the seven-month-long plin Park High School, who was also bul- line who attended a nearby high school. ents were not alerted at all, unless they ­sex-ed review, Anderson and her colleagues lied for being perceived as gay, and who’d The relationship didn’t end well: The boy- happened to be diligent online readers of wrote a memo to the Anoka-­Hennepin complained to her mother that classmates friend had cheated on him, and com- board-meeting minutes.) And while “No school board, concluding, “The majority of had started an “I Hate July Barrick” Face- pounding Justin’s hurt, his coming out Homo Promo” had at least been clear, the parents do not wish to have there [sic] chil- book page. As mental-health counselors had earned Justin hateful Facebook mes- new Sexual Orientation Curriculum Policy dren taught that the gay lifestyle is a nor- were hurriedly dispatched to each affect- sages from other teens – some from those mostly just puzzled the teachers who’d be mal acceptable alternative.” Surprisingly, ed school, the district was blanketed by a he didn’t even know – telling him he was responsible for enforcing it. It read: the six-member board voted to adopt the sense of mourning and frightened shock. a fag who didn’t deserve to live. At least Anoka-Hennepin staff, in the course of measure by a four-to-two majority, even “It has taken a collective toll,” says his freshman year of high school was their professional duties, shall remain borrowing the memo’s language to fash- Northdale Middle School psychologist ­nearly done. Only three more years to go. neutral on matters regarding sexual ori- ion the resulting districtwide policy, which Colleen Cashen. “Everyone has just been He wondered how he would ever make it. entation including but not limited to pronounced that within the health cur- reeling – students, teachers. There’s been student-led­ discussions. riculum, “homosexuality not be taught/ just a profound sadness.” hough some members of It quickly became known as the “neu- addressed as a normal, valid lifestyle.” In the wake of Sam’s suicide, Brittany the Anoka-Hennepin school trality” policy. No one could figure out The policy became unofficially known couldn’t seem to stop crying. She’d disap- board had been appalled by “No what it meant. “What is ‘neutral’?” asks as “No Homo Promo” and passed unan- The Battle pear for hours with her cellphone turned Homo Promo” since its passage instructor Merrick-Lockett. “Teachers are nounced to parents and unpublished in the Lines off, taking long walks by Elk Creek or hid- 14 years earlier, it wasn’t until constantly asking, ‘Do you think I could policy handbooks; most teachers were told ing in a nearby cemetery. “Promise me you T2009 that the board brought the policy get in trouble for this? Could I get fired for about it by their principals. Teachers say it won’t take your life,” her father begged. up for review, after a student named Alex that?’ So a lot of teachers sidestep it. They The district’s policy effectively had a chilling effect and they became con- banning discussion of “Promise you’ll come to me before any- Merritt filed a complaint with the state don’t want to deal with district backlash.” cerned about mentioning gays in any con- homosexuality now draws thing.” Brittany couldn’t promise. In March Department of Human Rights claiming English teachers worried they’d get text. Discussion of homosexuality gradu- pro-gay protesters to school- 2010, she was hospitalized for a week. he’d been gay-bashed by two of his teach- in trouble for teaching books by gay au- ally disappeared from classes. “If you can’t board meetings (above). Barb ers during high school; according to the thors, or books with gay characters. Social-­ talk about it in any context, which is how Anderson (near left), who n april, justin came home complaint, the teachers had announced studies teachers wondered what to do if a teachers interpret district policies, kids in- co-authored “No Homo from school and found his mother at in front of students that Merritt, who is student wrote a term paper on gay rights, Promo,” blames the activists ternalize that to mean that being gay must for the district’s tragedies. the top of the stairs, tending to the straight, “swings both ways,” speculated or how to address current events like “don’t be so shameful and wrong,” says Anoka saltwater fish tank. “Mom,” he said that he wore women’s clothing, and com- ask, don’t tell.” Health teachers were faced High School teacher Mary Jo Merrick- tentatively, “a kid told me at school pared him to a Wisconsin man who had with the impossible task of teaching about Lockett. “And that has created a climate of beamed. Embarrassing as it was to get a he was stunned to hear about Sam John- Itoday I’m gonna go to hell because I’m gay.” sex with a dead deer. The teachers denied AIDS awareness and safe sex without men- fear and repression and harassment.” sex talk from his mom, her easy affirma- son’s suicide. Though Justin hadn’t known “That’s not true. God loves everybody,” the charges, but the school district paid tioning homosexuality. Many teachers de- Suicide is a complex phenomenon; tion of Justin’s orientation seemed like a her personally, he’d known of her, and his mom replied. “That kid needs to go $25,000 to settle the complaint. Soon cided once again to keep gay issues­ from there’s never any one pat reason to explain promising sign as he stood on the brink of of the way she’d been taunted for being home and read his Bible.” representatives from the gay-rights group the curriculum altogether, rather than why anyone kills themselves. Michele high school. Justin was more than ready butch. Justin tried to keep smiling. In his Justin shrugged and smiled, then re- Outfront Minnesota began making inqui- chance saying something that could be in- Johnson acknowledges that her daugh- to turn the corner on the horrors of mid- room at home, Justin made a brightly col- treated to his room. It had been a hard ries at board meetings. “No Homo Promo” terpreted as anything other than neutral. ter, Sam, likely had many issues that com- dle school – especially on his just-­finished ored paper banner and taped it to his wall: day: the annual “Day of Truth” had been was starting to look like a risky policy. “There has been widespread confusion,” bined to push her over the edge, but feels eighth-grade year, when Justin had come “Love the life you live, live the life you love.” held at school, an evangelical event then- “The lawyers said, ‘You’d have a hard says Anoka-Hennepin teachers’ union strongly that bullying was one of those fac- out as gay to a few friends, yet word had sponsored by the anti-gay ministry Exo­ time defending it,’ ” remembers Scott Wen- president Julie Blaha. “You ask five people tors. “I’m sure that Samantha’s decision to instantly spread, making him a pariah. rittany couldn’t stop dus International, whose mission is to zel, a board member who for years had how to interpret the policy and you get five take her life had a lot to do with what was In the hall one day, a popular jock had thinking about Sam, a reel that usher gays back to wholeness and “victo- pushed colleagues to abolish the policy. different answers.” Silenced by fear, gay going on in school,” Johnson says tearful- grabbed Justin by the balls and squeezed, looped endlessly in her head. ry in Christ” by converting them to het- “It was clear that it might risk a lawsuit.” teachers ­became more vigilant than ever to ly. “I’m sure things weren’t perfect in other sneering, “You like that, don’t you?” That Sam dancing to one of their fa- erosexuality. Day of Truth has been a font But while board members agreed that avoid mention of their personal lives, and areas, but nothing was as bad as what was assault had so humiliated and frightened vorite metal bands, Drowning of controversy that has bounced in and out such an overtly anti-gay policy needed to in closeting themselves, they inadvertently going on in that school.” Justin that he’d burst out crying, but he BPool. Sam dead in the tub with the back of of the courts; its legality was affirmed last be scrapped, they also agreed that some ensured that many students had no real-­ never reported any of his harassment. The her head blown off. Sam’s ashes in an urn, March, when a federal appeals court ruled guideline was needed to not only help life gay role models. “I was told by teach- he summer before justin last thing he wanted to do was draw more her coffin empty at her wake. that two Naperville, Illinois, high school teachers navigate a topic as inflammatory ers, ‘You have to be careful, it’s really not Aaberg started at Anoka High attention to his sexuality. Plus, he didn’t She couldn’t sleep. Her grades fell. Her students’ Day of Truth T-shirts reading safe for you to come out,’ ” says the psychol- School, his mother asked, “So, want his parents worrying. Justin’s folks daily harassment at school continued, but be happy, not gay were protected by ogist Cashen, who is a lesbian. “I felt like I are you sure you’re gay?” were already overwhelmed with stresses now without her best friend to help her their First Amendment rights. (However, couldn’t have a picture of my family on my Justin, a slim, shy 14-year- of their own: Swamped with debt, they’d cope. At home, Brittany played the good the event, now sponsored by Focus on the desk.” When teacher Jefferson Fietek was Told who carefully swept his blond bangs to declared bankruptcy and lost their home daughter, cleaning the house and perform- Family, has been renamed “Day of Dia­ ANDERSON, THE outed in the community paper, which re- the side like his namesake, Bieber, stud- to foreclosure. So Justin had kept his prob- ing her brother’s chores unasked, all in a logue.”) Local churches had been touting ferred to him as an “open homosexual,” he ied his mom’s face. “I’m pretty sure I’m lems to himself; he felt hopeful things valiant attempt to maintain some family the program, and students had obedient- AUTHOR OF “NO HOMO didn’t feel he could address the situation gay,” he answered softly, then abruptly would get better in high school, where kids peace after the bank took their house, and ly shown up at Anoka High School wear- PROMO,” DEFENDED with his students even as they passed the changed his mind. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, were bound to be more mature. both parents lost their jobs in quick succes- ing day of truth ­T-shirts, preaching in newspaper around, tittering. When one wait! ” he shouted – out of character for “There’ll always be bullies,” he reasoned sion. Then Brittany started cutting herself. the halls about the sin of homosexuality. HER STANCE, SAYING finally asked, “Are you gay?” he panicked. the quiet boy – “I’m positive. I am gay,” to a friend. “But we’ll be older, so maybe Just 11 days after Sam’s death, on No- Justin wanted to brush them off, but was IF GAY KIDS WEREN’T “I was terrified to answer that question,” Justin ­proclaimed. they’ll be better about it.” vember 22nd, 2009, came yet another troubled by their proselytizing. Secretly, ­Fietek says. “I thought, ‘If I violate the pol- “OK.” Tammy Aaberg nodded. “So. But Justin’s start of ninth grade in 2009 suicide: a Blaine High School student, he had begun to worry that maybe he was OUT OF THE CLOSET IN icy, what’s going to happen to me?’ ” Just because you can’t get him pregnant began as a disappointment. In the halls of 15-year-old Aaron Jurek – the district’s an abomination, like the Bible said. THE FIRST PLACE, The silence of adults was deafening. doesn’t mean you don’t use protection.” Anoka High School, he was bullied, called third suicide in just three months. After Justin was trying not to care what any- At Blaine High School, says alum Jus- She proceeded to lecture her son about a “faggot” and shoved into lockers. Then, Christmas break, an Andover High School one else thought and be true to himself. THEN THEY WOULDN’T tin Ander­son, “I would hear people call- safe sex while Justin turned bright red and a couple of months into the school year, senior, Nick Lockwood, became the dis- FROM TOP: ALEC LINDSEY; TOM OLMSCHEID/MINNESOTA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES He surrounded himself with a bevy of BE BULLIED. ing people ‘fags’ all the time without it

54 | Rolling Stone | rollingstone.com February 16, 2012 February 16, 2012 rollingstone.com | Rolling Stone | 55 SCHOOL OF HATE

the bus asked, “How was the mess last Barb Anderson, co-author of the original school board, the vice-chair thought the night?” Not after Brittany told the as- “No Homo Promo,” held fast to her princi- policy applied only to health classes, while sociate principal about the mob of kids ples, blaming pro-gay groups for the trag- the chair asserted it applied to all curri- who pushed her down the hall and near- edies. She explained that such “child cor- cula; and when the district legal counsel ly into a trash can. Her name became ruption” agencies allow “quote-unquote commented that some discussions about Dyke, Queer, Faggot, Guy, Freak, Trans- gay kids” to wrongly feel legitimized. “And homosexuality were allowed, yet another vestite, Bitch, Cunt, Slut, Whore, Skank, then these kids are locked into a lifestyle board member expressed surprise, saying Prostitute, Hooker. Brittany felt worn to a with their choices limited, and many times he thought any discussion on the topic was nub, exhausted from scanning for threat, this can be disastrous to them as they get forbidden. “How can the district ever train stripped of emotional armor. In her jour- into the behavior which leads to disease on a policy they do not understand them- nal, she wrote, “Brittany is dead.” and death,” Anderson said. She added selves?” GET officials asked in a follow-up As Brittany vainly cried out for help, that if LGBT kids weren’t encouraged to letter. “Is there any doubt that teachers and the school board was busy trying to fig- come out of the closet in the first place, staff are confused? The board is confused!” ure out how to continue tactfully ignoring they wouldn’t be in a position to be bullied. With the adults thus distracted by end- the existence of LGBT kids like her. Justin Yet while everyone in the district was less policy discussions, the entire district ­Aaberg’s suicide, Anoka-Hennepin’s sev- buzzing about the neutrality policy, the became a place of dread for students. enth, had sent the district into damage-­ board simply refused to discuss it, not Every time a loudspeaker crackled in class, control mode. “Everything changed after even when students began appearing be- kids braced themselves for the feared pre- Justin,” remembers teacher Fietek. “The fore them to detail their experiences with amble, “We’ve had a tragic loss.” Students rage at his funeral, students were storm- LGBT harassment. “The board stated quite spoke in hushed tones; some wept openly ing up to me saying, ‘Why the hell did the clearly that they were standing behind that in the halls. “It had that feeling of a hor- school let this happen? They let it happen policy and were not willing to take another ror movie – everyone was talking about to Sam and they let it happen to Justin!’ ” look,” recalls board member Wenzel. Fur- death,” says one 16-year-old student who Individual teachers quietly began taking ther insulating itself from reality, the dis- broke down at Anoka High School one day small risks, overstepping the bounds of trict launched an investigation into the sui- and was carted off to a psychiatric hospital neutrality to offer solace to gay students in cides and unsurprisingly, absolved itself of for suicidal ideation. Over the course of the crisis. “My job is just a job; these children any responsibility. “Based on all the infor- 2010-2011 school year, 700 students were are losing their lives,” says Fietek. “The mation we’ve been able to gather,” read a evaluated for serious mental-health issues, story I hear repeatedly is ‘Nobody else is statement from the superintendent’s office, including hospitalizations for depression like me, nobody else is going through what “none of the suicides were connected to in- and suicide attempts. Kids flooded school I’m going through.’ That’s the lie they’ve cidents of bullying or harassment.” counselors’ offices, which reported an -ex been fed, but they’re buying into it based Just to be on the safe side, however, the plosion of children engaging in danger- on the fear we have about open and honest district held PowerPoint presentations in ous behaviors like cutting or asphyxiating conversations about sexual orientation.” a handful of schools to train teachers how each other in the “choking game.” LGBT students were stunned to be told to defend gay students from harassment Amid the pandemonium, the district’s being addressed. Teachers just didn’t re- tight that the mortician would have a hard for the first time about the existence of the while also remaining neutral on homosex- eighth suicide landed like a bomb: Cole spond.” In Andover High School, when The Lost Boy time masking the imprint it left in the flesh neutrality policy that had been responsible uality. One slide instructed teachers that if Wilson, an Anoka High School senior with 10th-­grader Sam Pinilla was pushed to above Justin’s collar. for their teachers’ behavior. But no one was they hear gay slurs – say, the word “fag” – no apparent LGBT connection. The news the ground by three kids calling him a “What about my parental rights to have Still screaming, Tammy ran to call 911. more outraged to hear of it than Tammy the best response is a tepid “That language was frightening, but also horrifyingly fa- my gay son go to school and learn without “faggot,” he saw a teacher nearby who being bullied?” Tammy Aaberg tearfully She didn’t notice the cellphone on the floor Aaberg. Six weeks after her son’s death, is unacceptable in this school.” (“If a more miliar. “People were dying one after an- did nothing to stop the assault. At Anoka demanded when she confronted the below Justin’s feet, containing his last Aaberg became the first to publicly con- authoritative response is needed,” the slide other,” remembers former district student High School, a 10th-grade girl became so school board after her son Justin’s death. words, a text in the wee hours: front the Anoka-Hennepin school board added, the teacher could continue with the Katie MacDonald, 16, who struggled with upset at being mocked as a “lesbo” and a :-( he had typed to a girlfriend. about the link between the policy, anti-gay stilted, almost apologetic explanation, “In suicidal thoughts. “Every time you said “sinner” – in earshot of teachers – that she What’s wrong bullying and suicide. She demanded the this school we are required to welcome goodbye to a friend, you felt like, ‘Is this complained to an associate principal, who ustin?” tammy aaberg rapped Nothing policy be revoked. “What about my paren- all people and to make them feel safe.”) the last time I’m going to see you?’ ” counseled her to “lay low”; the girl would on her son’s locked bedroom I can come over tal rights to have my gay son go to school But teachers were, of course, reminded to later attempt suicide. At Anoka Middle door again. It was past noon, No I’m fine and learn without being bullied?” Aaberg never show “personal support for GLBT s a late-afternoon storm School for the Arts, after Kyle Rooker was and not a peep from inside, un- Are you sure you’ll be ok asked, weeping, as the board stared back people” in the classroom. beats against the windows, urinated upon from above in a boys’ bath- usual for Justin. No it’s ok I’ll be fine, I promise impassively from behind a raised dais. Teachers left the training sessions more 15-year-old Brittany Geldert room stall, an associate principal told him, ‘J“Justin?” She could hear her own voice Anti-gay backlash was instant. Minne- confused than ever about how to interpret sits in her living room. Her “It was probably water.” Jackson Middle rising as she pounded harder, sudden- eeking relief from bul- sota Family Council president Tom Prich- the rules. And the board, it turned out, was layered auburn hair falls into School seventh-grader Dylon Frei was ly overtaken by a wild terror she couldn’t lying, Brittany transferred to ard blogged that Justin’s suicide could equally confused. When a local advoca- herA face. Her ears are lined with pierc- passed notes saying, “Get out of this town, name. “Justin!” she yelled. Tammy Jackson Middle School. Her only be blamed upon one thing: his gay- cy group, Gay Equity Team, met with the ings; her nail polish is black. “They said I fag”; when a teacher intercepted one such grabbed a screwdriver and loosened the very first day of eighth grade, ness. “Youth who embrace homosexuali- had anger, depression, suicidal ideation, note, she simply threw it away. doorknob. She pushed open the door. eight boys crowded around her ty are at greater risk [of suicide], because anxiety, an eating disorder,” she recites, “You feel horrible about yourself,” re- He was wearing his Anoka High School Son the bus home. “Hey, Brittany, I heard they’ve embraced an unhealthy sexu- speaking of the month she spent at a psy- members Dylon. “Like, why do these kids sweatpants and an old soccer shirt. His your friend Sam shot herself,” one began. al identity and lifestyle,” Prichard wrote. chiatric hospital last year, at the end of hate me so much? And why won’t any- feet were dangling off the ground. Jus- “Did you see her blow her brains out?” Anoka-­Hennepin conservatives formally “PEOPLE WERE eighth grade. “Mentally being degraded body help me?” The following year, after tin was hanging from the frame of his “Did you pull the trigger for her?” organized into the Parents Action League, like that, I translated that to ‘I don’t de- Dylon was hit in the head with a bind- futon, which he’d taken out from under “What did it look like?” declaring opposition to the “radical homo- DYING,” REMEMBERS serve to be happy,’ ” she says, barely hold- er and called “fag,” the associate princi- his mattress and stood upright in the cor- “Was there brain all over the wall?” sexual” agenda in schools. Its stated goals, ONE TEEN WHO FELT ing back tears, as both parents look on pal told Dylon that since there was no ner of his room. Screaming, Tammy ran “You should do it too. You should go advertised on its website, included promot- with wet eyes. “Like I deserved the pun- proof of the incident she could take no ac- to hold him and recoiled at his cold skin. blow your head off.” ing Day of Truth, providing resources for SUICIDAL. “EVERY ishment – I’ve been earning the punish- tion. By contrast, Dylon and others saw His limp body was grotesquely bloated – Sobbing, Brittany ran from the bus stop students “seeking to leave the homosexu- TIME YOU SAID ment I’ve been getting.” how the same teachers who ignored anti- her baby – eyes closed, head lolling to the and into her mother’s arms. Her mom al lifestyle,” supporting the neutrality poli- She’s fighting hard to rebuild her dec- gay insults were quick to reprimand kids right, a dried smear of saliva trailing from called Jackson’s guidance office to report cy and targeting “pro-gay activist teachers GOODBYE TO A FRIEND imated sense of self. It’s a far darker self who uttered racial slurs. It further rein- the corner of his mouth. His cheeks were the incident, but as before, nothing ever who fail to abide by district policies.” YOU FELT LIKE, ‘IS THIS than before, a guarded, distant teenager forced the message resonating through- strafed with scratch marks, as though in seemed to come of their complaints. Not Asked on a radio program whether the who bears little resemblance to the open- out the district: Gay kids simply didn’t his final moments he’d tried to claw his after the Gelderts’ Halloween lawn dec- anti-gay agenda of her ilk bore any re- THE LAST TIME I’M hearted young girl she was not long ago. deserve protection. noose loose. He’d cinched the woven belt so orations were destroyed, and the boys on TIMES”/REDUX BRISSON-SMITH/“NEW YORK ALLEN sponsibility for the bullying and suicides, GOING TO SEE YOU?’ ” But Brittany is also finding­ [Cont. on 68]

56 | Rolling Stone | rollingstone.com February 16, 2012 February 16, 2012 rollingstone.com | Rolling Stone | 57 SCHOOL OF HATE for their moral and political utility, much impulsivity are matters of extreme urgen- of society seems not to be looking closely cy – quite possibly matters of life or death. [Cont. from 57] a reserve of strength she and openly at all the possible causes of the Which brings us to Anoka Middle never realized she had, having stepped up tragedies,” including mental illness. Argu- School for the Arts’ first Gay Straight Al- as one of five plaintiffs in the civil rights ably, however, it is members of PAL who liance meeting of the school year, where lawsuit against her school district. The have hijacked this entire discussion from 19 kids seated on the linoleum floor try to road to the federal lawsuit was paved the very start: Though they’ve claimed to explain to me what the GSA has meant to shortly after Justin Aaberg’s suicide, when represent the “majority” opinion on gay is- them. “It’s a place of freedom, where I can a district teacher contacted the Southern sues, and say they have 1,200 supporters, just be myself,” a preppy boy in basketball Poverty Law Center to report the anti- one PAL parent reported that they have less shorts says. This GSA, Sam Johnson’s leg- gay climate, and the startling proportion than two dozen members. acy, held its first meeting shortly after her of LGBT-related suicide victims. After Teachers’ union president Blaha, who death under the tutelage of teacher Fietek, months of fact-finding, lawyers built a calls the district’s behavior throughout and has been a crucial place for LGBT case based on the harrowing stories of an- this ordeal “irrational,” speculates that kids and their friends to find support and ti-gay harassment in order to legally dis- the district’s stupefying denial is a reac- learn coping skills. Though still a source of pute Anoka-­Hennepin’s neutrality policy. tion to the terrible notion that they might local controversy, there is now a student-­ The lawsuit accuses the district of violat- have played a part in children’s suffering, initiated GSA in every Anoka-­Hennepin ing the kids’ constitutional rights to equal or even their deaths: “I think your mind middle and high school. As three advisers access to education. In addition to mak- just reels in the face of that stress and that look on, the kids gush about how affirming ing financial demands, the lawsuit seeks horror. They just lost their way.” the club is – and how necessary, in light of to repeal the neutrality policy, implement That denial reaches right up to the how unsafe they continue to feel at school. LGBT-sensitivity training for students and pinnacle of the local political food chain: “I’ll still get bullied to the point ­where—” staff, and provide guidance for teachers on ­Michele Bachmann, who stayed silent begins a skinny eighth-grade girl, then how to respond to anti-­gay bullying. on the suicide cluster in her congressio- takes a breath. “I actually had to go to the The school district hasn’t been anxious nal district for months – until Justin’s hospital for suicide,” she continues, look- for a legal brawl, and the two parties have mom, Tammy Aaberg, forced her to com- ing at the floor. “I just recently stopped been in settlement talks practically since ment. In September, while Bachmann cutting because of bullying.” the papers were filed. Yet the district still was running for the GOP presidential I ask for a show of hands: How many of stubbornly clung to the neutrality poli- nomination, ­Aaberg delivered a petition you feel safe at school? Of the 19 kids as- cy until, at a mid-December school-board of 141,000 signatures to Bachmann’s of- sembled, two raise their hands. The feel- meeting, it proposed finally eliminating fice, asking her to address the Anoka- ing of insecurity continues to reverberate the policy – claiming the move has noth- Hennepin suicides and publicly denounce particularly through the Anoka-­Hennepin ing to do with the discrimination lawsuit anti-gay bullying. Bachmann has ­publicly middle schools these days, in the wake – and, bizarrely, replacing it with the Con- stated her opposition to anti-­bullying leg- of the district’s ninth suicide. In May, troversial Topics Curriculum Policy, which islation, asking in a 2006 state Senate Northdale Middle School’s Jordan Yenor, requires teachers to not reveal their per- committee hearing, “What will be our a 14-year-old with no evident LGBT con- sonal opinions when discussing “contro- definition of bullying? Will it get to the nection, took his life. Psychologist Cashen versial topics.” The proposal was loudly point where we are completely stifling says that at Northdale Middle alone this rejected both by conservatives, who blast- free speech and expression? . . . Will we be school year, several students have been ed the board for retreating (“The gay ac- expecting boys to be girls?” Bachmann hospitalized for mental-health issues, and tivists now have it all,” proclaimed one responded to the petition with a gener- at least 14 more assessed for suicidal ide- Parents Action League member) and by ic letter to constituents telling them that ation; for a quarter of them, she says, “Sex- LGBT advocates, who understood “con- “bullying is wrong,” and “all human lives ual orientation was in the mix.” troversial topics” to mean gays. Faced with have undeniable value.” Tammy ­Aaberg A slight boy with an asymmetrical hair- such overwhelming disapproval, the board found out about the letter secondhand. “I cut speaks in a soft voice. “What this GSA withdrew its proposed policy in January – never got a letter,” says Tammy, seated in means to me, is: In sixth grade my, my and suggested a new policy in its place: the the finished basement of the ­Aabergs’ new only friend here, committed suicide.” The Respectful Learning Environment Cur- home in Champlin; the family couldn’t room goes still. He’s talking about Sa- riculum Policy, which the board is expect- bear to remain in the old house where mantha. The boy starts to cry. “She was ed to swiftly approve. Justin hanged himself. “My kid died in the one who reached out to me.” He dou- The school district insists it has been her district. And I’m the one that present- bles over in tears, and everyone collapses portrayed unfairly. Superintendent Carl- ed the dang petition!” In a closed room a on top of him in a group hug. From some- son points out it has been working hard to few feet away are Justin’s remaining pos- where in the pile, he continues to speak in address the mental-health needs of its stu- sessions: his cello, in a closet; his soccer a trembling voice: “I joined the GSA ’cause dents by hiring more counselors and staff equipment, still packed in his Adidas bag. I wanted to be just like her. I wanted to be – everything, it seems, but admit that its Tammy’s suffering hasn’t ended. In mid- nice and – loved.” policy has created problems for its LGBT December, her nine-year-old son was hos- community. “We understand that gay kids pitalized for suicidal tendencies; he’d tried Rolling Stone (ISSN 0035-791x) is published biweekly except for the first issue in July and at year’s end, when are bullied and harassed on a daily basis,” to drown himself in the bathtub, wanting two issues are combined and published as double issues, and that that can lead to suicide, Carlson to see his big brother again. by Wenner Media LLC, 1290 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10104-0298. The entire contents of Roll- says. “But that was not the case here. If Justin’s suicide has left Tammy on a mis- ing Stone are copyright © 2012 by Rolling Stone LLC, and may not be reproduced in any manner, either in you’re looking for a cause, look in the area sion, transforming her into an LGBT activ- whole or in part, without written permission. All rights of mental health.” In that sense, the district ist and a den mother for gay teens, intent are reserved. Canadian Goods and Service Tax Registra- tion No. R125041855. International Publications Mail is in step with PAL. “How could not dis- upon turning her own tragedy into others’ Sales Product Agreement No. 450553. The subscription price is $39.96 for one year. The Canadian subscription cussing homosexuality in the public-school salvation. She knows too well the price of price is $52.00 for one year, including GST, payable in ad- classrooms cause a teen to take his or her indifference, or hostility, or denial. Because vance. Canadian Postmaster: Send address changes and returns to P.O. Box 63, Malton CFC, Mississauga, On- own life?” PAL asked Rolling Stone in there’s one group of kids who can’t afford tario L4T 3B5. The foreign subscription price is $80.00 for one year, payable in advance. Periodicals postage an e-mail, calling the idea “absurd,” going to live in denial, a group for whom the paid at New York, NY, and additional mailing offices. on to say, “Because homosexual activists usual raw teenage struggles over identity, Canada Poste publication agreement #40683192. Post- master: Send address changes to Rolling Stone Cus- have hijacked and exploited teen suicides peer acceptance and controlling one’s own tomer Service, P.O. Box 6003, Harlan, IA 51593-1503.

68 | Rolling Stone | rollingstone.com February 16, 2012