Newsgroups: soc.motss
Subject: Outed at my high school (anonymous post)
From: mike@batpad.lgb.CA.US (Mike Batchelor)
Date: Sun, 12 Apr 92 23:31:53 PDT
Reply-To: mike@batpad.lgb.ca.us
Organization: The Batchelor Pad



This is an anonymous post for someone I've been corresponding with.
I'll forward any private replies to him.  He reads this group, so you
can respond here, too.

<----------------begin short biographical sketch-------------------->
I am 17, living in a fundamentalist Deep South town.  There is a
Presbyterian church --more fundamental than most, I think; they tried
to break from the PC-USA several times-- who claim to have a group to
"cure" us.  Most of the people in the town agree with this;  It's no
wonder that it is one of the largest Protestant churches in the area.
We started a gay youth group here;  it fizzled with only yours truly
attending.  Oh, well.  I go to college in Chapel Hill, NC this fall--
a rather open place.
(My parents are not supportive, to say the least.)
<----------------end brief background info-------------------------->


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Here's my story:
Once I got an account on a UNIX system as a high school student, I
started reading alt.politics.homosexuality and soc.motss.  Pretty soon,
I was corresponding with some people here and there as a result of posts,
and really spending a lot of time on USENET (You see, I hadn't figured
out how to work the kill file yet).  Anyway my modem at home was an archaic
300-baud thing that wasn't Hayes compatible (or anything compatible for
that matter; you had to dial manually), so I used the computers at school.
4800 and 9600, they were supposedly "open" to students for any "legitimate"
use.  So when I had a free period, or after school, I would use one of
these computers.  All was well: I had a fast modem, I wasn't bothering
anyone, if someone in power (like a teacher) needed the computer, I could
logoff in a matter of seconds.  Then things changed.

I noticed it getting increasingly difficult to use these computers.  I would
go to the library, and the librarians would tell me I couldn't use it
"because a teacher is coming in in the next few hours."  I went to the
chemistry lab; again, "a teacher may need it real soon."  I went to the
fiber-optics videoconferencing room with the 9600; the excuse there
was "the phone lines are owned by Nothern Telecom; they might not like
a student using it."  Meanwhile, I had applied for an account with the
local school system's BBS;  they assured everyone they would validate you
in twenty-four hours.  It had been two weeks, and despite my repeated
e-mail pestering to the sysop, I had received no answer.  Curioser and
curiouser. . .

After two weeks or so, I was called into the office of the shop [!] teacher,
who at my school had control over computers.  He told me that he had told
the librarians, chem teacher, and videoconferencing technician not to let
me use a modem.  "You see," he told me, "we noticed you were friends with
someone we know to be an accomplished hacker; he caused problems for us
last year.  So, just to be cautious, we monitored your beam-outs. [!!]
While we didn't see any evidence of hacking, we did see you doing things
that shouldn't be done on school property."

He then proceeded to pull out a fanfold of paper, and began to read from
a somewhat flirtatious e-mail message sent to me by an undergraduate
in Chapel Hill, NC.  He explained that he couldn't allow such
"vulgarity and profanity" on the school's computers.  "I spoke to each
of them [the librarians, etc.] again." He said. "I showed them what you
had been doing, and they were very shocked you could betray their trust [?]
like this.  I think it would be best if you no longer use school computers.
You're not in trouble, the principal [??!!??] didn't see anything he could
do beyond barring you from the computers."

I was shocked, and stumbled out of the shop feeling very sick.  I
actually had to make a pass by the bathroom :(.
Here I had been spied on, humiliated, and outed!  The teachers, librar-
rians, etc., didn't look at me the same way again.  Of course, word
spread around, and things began to get difficult for me.

I realize that the school has no legal obligation to allow me to use their
computers for things my parents wouldn't approve of.  However, considering
I only used the computers in idle time and logged off immediately when
a teacher needed it, I don't see the problem.  This "accomplished hacker"
was someone who I had worked on computer competitions with a few times
before but otherwise I had never had much contact with.
Moreover, the school BBS was supposedly open to the public, and I had not
been granted full access. (Maybe I'm paranoid, but it stunk of gay
discrimination to me.)
What do you think?
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[] ---
[] Mike Batchelor -- mike@batpad.lgb.CA.US -- cerritos.edu!batpad!mike
[] Long Beach, California
[] TNG Quote: "You were travelling in close formation at over 80,000 kph, only
[] 10 meters from Cadet Albert, and you didn't even know his orientation?!?"