One does not hear of gay youth gangs getting together to settle the score with someone who has insulted or harassed a member of the group. Unfortunately, most educational institutions are exceptionally weak in this area.
Most schools continue to be reluctant to deal with manifestations of homophobia.
Gay and straight students alike report that teachers regularly ignore and do nothing to intervene in cases of verbal and physical harassment of lesbian or gay students. Studies reveal that lesbian, gay and bisexual youth continue to be victimized in schools and are five times more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual peers. When young people come out to their families, many are thrown out of their homes, often forced into prostitution to survive and correspondingly exposed to poverty, physical and sexual assault, and sexually transmitted diseases. All of this constitutes violence. Although anecdotal information seems to indicate that young people are developing a sexual identity at a younger and younger age, most youth still do not dare to come out in their school settings.