According to a recent report by the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, violence against gay and lesbian students has increased by 34% nationwide over the past year. In California schools -- many of which make a point of encouraging acceptance and communication when it comes to racial differences -- sexual diversity remains a taboo subject. Reporter Nishat Kurwa spoke with several high school students who have harassed their gay or lesbian classmates to find out what motivated their actions, and how their schools responded. Kurwa, a student at San Francisco State University, is on the staff of YO! (Youth Outlook), a newspaper by and about young people produced by Pacific News Service.

California's public schools devote a lot of time and energy to preaching the values of racial and ethnic diversity. But in many schools, official encouragement of diversity appears to stop short when it includes sexuality -- even as harassment of gay and lesbian students is on the rise. For many of those students, this turns high school into a time of intense isolation and intimidation.

A recent report by the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs found that violence against gay and lesbian youth at schools in the San Francisco Bay Area -- long considered a bastion of tolerance -- doubled between 1996 and 1997, from eight incidents to 17. Nationwide, there was a 34 percent increase. Gay and lesbian students themselves say they are regularly teased, alienated and harassed because of their perceived sexual preference. "Most Likely to be a Fag" is a popular category in some high school slam books.

I interviewed several students who admitted having perpetrated some form of harassment. While they offered a variety of explanations, what really struck me was that almost no one expressed remorse for their actions. Nor had anyone faced serious consequences from school officials, beyond sitting in detention.

As my interviews made clear, when schools don't stand up for teachers who teach about homosexuality and fail to take a tough stand against anti-gay harassment, they send a clear message that gay bashing is no big deal‹and certainly not on a par with hate crimes based on race or other cultural differences.

Brianna*, 17, defaced a fellow student's locker with anti-lesbian graffiti. "People already knew that she was gay," the j.v. basketball player declares by way of justifying her actions. "Last year, someone told me that she liked this girl in one of her classes and was always bothering her. This year in P.E., the teacher made her my partner for warm-up exercises, and ever since she's always talking to me like I'm her friend. People don't say anything, but I know they think she's trying to convert me."

"I kept telling her to quit bothering me, but she kept trying to talk to me," Brianna concludes. Defacing the girl's locker "was my message to her that I was serious."

Brianna's actions came to light when the girl told her parents and they reported them to the school. The school's response was to give Brianna detention. I wonder aloud if the punishment fits the crime, and Brianna informs me that it certainly does -- she is one of the most popular girls at the school, and having to sit in detention was an embarrassment.

In a puffy jacket and baggy jeans that hide his skinny frame, Alex, 15, seems to be at the center of his circle -- young black males who are kings of the hill at their Bay Area high school, posting in the same place in the hallway every day to mess with girls. Recently they turned their attentions towards a different target.

"We were messin' with this dude that everyone knew was gay," Alex explains. "He wears hella earrings and talks hella flashy, hella like a girl. The part that killed us is, he's black. It's one thing to be white and be doing all that. It's another to make people look at somebody black that way. All of his little white crew would just laugh when we made fun of him, like they were making fun of us right back. But they stopped laughing when we started punkin' him."

Alex and his friends backed their target into corners, throwing insults and sometimes food his way. Alex and his friends were verbally reprimanded by several teachers, but when only a few concerned teachers are acting as individuals, there is no strong schoolwide message that this kind of harassment is intolerable.

High school can be a time of tremendous sexual insecurity, and students who are, or are perceived to be, "different" make an easy target for young people looking to deflect attention from themselves. Jenny, 18, recalls a high school friend who "was always the quiet one in our group...When everyone else started having sex, Kelly was still holding out. I thought it was kind of good, but all our friends called her a baby."

One day, a friend teased Kelly for being a virgin. Kelly shot back, "Well, at least I don't have sex with girls like Gina does," Jenny recalls. "There had already been rumors about Gina because she dressed like a guy and we've never known her to have a boyfriend. But after Kelly said that, it just spread all around, and the focus shifted from Kelly's sex life to Gina's. I guess Kelly got what she wanted."

For gay and lesbian students, the fear of harassment often makes it hard to be open about their sexuality. Joe, 19, let only a few people know he was gay while he was in high school. "I wanted to wait until after I graduated because...there was less chance of getting hurt that way," he says. "I see people at the mall now from high school and they call me names but that's about it. I guess it's something in themselves they feel insecure about so they try and take it out on me. But I don't let it bother me -- I can't live my life for other people."

Student fears are easier to understand than those of school officials. High schools hold seminars all the time to talk about racial issues, but never about homosexuality or homophobia. Why don't the schools stand up and say that harassment is wrong, no matter what the subject? When schools share students' fears of being labeled champions of "the gay cause," students get the message that harassing their gay and lesbian classmates is OK -- and gay and lesbian students get the message that their rights don't matter.

*Names have been changed.