As a Boston public middle school student in the 1990’s, Jason Haas endured three years of unimaginably vicious taunting, shunning, and physical attacks by his fellow students – and no teacher or administrator lifted a hand to help him.

In 1996 and 1997, Jason and his mother, Sandra, repeatedly notified school officials about incidents ranging from a kick in the throat to name-calling of “faggot” and “nigger” to threats of violence.  Teachers who actually witnessed Jason being punched on one occasion and strangled on another did nothing.

To see him now, a confident, articulate college senior, is to witness the fortitude of the human spirit – as well as the influence of both a strong mom and a good lawyer.  “My mom always told me that I was a great person.  She helped me keep things together,” Jason said.

Finally fed up with the school’s indifference, Jason picked up the phone himself and called GLAD after seeing an ad in Bay Windows.  And on the phone he got Mary Bonauto, who listened in horror to his tale.

“Mary was awesome,” said Jason.  “She came to our house, she listened to everything I said.”  GLAD documented both the abuse and the inaction of school officials.  It was clear that the problem went beyond Jason to an atmosphere in the school system that at best looked away and at worst condoned anti-gay sentiment, even when it went as far as violence.

Jason finally escaped by entering Concord-Carlisle High School, but he says now, “I didn’t want this to happen to anyone else.  That was the main thing for me.”

And in fact, when presented with the case that GLAD intended to file on behalf of Jason in 1999, the Boston Public School system officials recognized the extent of anti-gay harassment and knew they had to do something.  Jason and his mom received a settlement – but more significantly, Boston changed the way it deals with LGBT students.

The key provisions of the settlement were:

 
• Boston’s agreement to train all school personnel in leadership positions – teachers, administrators, and counselors among others – on LGBT issues
 
• The appointment of an LGBT liaison in each school

And Jason?  Jason went on to become a student leader in both high school and college (coincidentally Hamilton College, Mary Bonauto’s alma mater).  As a high school senior, he went back to Boston’s middle schools and spoke about his experiences.  He organized both an LGBT group and a comedy troupe on his college campus –representing two interests he hopes to combine in the future.  “Activism and public service are my number one passions,” he says.

Jason Haas spoke at GLAD’s Spirit of Justice Award Dinner on September 30, 2005.