This column was first published in the Los Angeles Times and San Francisco Times

MARK CROMER watches LAUSD students earn top honors

Martin Bridge's story didn't rank with O.J. Simpson's last week, but that's not too surprising. Bridge is not a former football player, nor a television and film celebrity.

A 35-year-old former television game-show producer, Bridge left the industry to become a teacher. He signed on with the Los Angeles Unified School District, taking a post at Crenshaw High School, where he taught drama and literature for the past two years.

That all came to an end in April when Bridge was, in effect, lynched by students at the high school because he is gay.

It's certainly not news that teachers in many of our public schools have to put up with back-talk, obscenities and even occasional threats. But the student assault on Bridge, which began when his sexual orientation became public knowledge, takes crime in our public schools-in this case a hate crime-to a new low.

During an earthquake drill at the school, for example, Bridge was surrounded by hostile students on a stairwell and repeatedly called "Faggot! Faggot!" While conducting class, students passing in the hallway would open the door to his classroom and taunt him with epithets. His own students passed up no opportunity to inquire about his sex life.

Where were his fellow-faculty members and school administrators?

A pretty good idea of where they were is suggested by how they responded to a proposal, by Crenshaw Principal Yvonne Noble, to sponsor a gay group to spread awareness and understanding. They declined. One teacher reportedly said, "I'm not a faggot."

As it turned out, no one meaningfully defended Bridge's dignity and human rights. No student marches. No teach-ins by faculty. No protests from parents.

Those students who did have the guts to support Bridge apparently were subjected to ridicule on the ground that since they were defending a gay teacher, they must be gay, too.

Incredibly, students seemed proud of their success in forcing Bridge to quit teaching. One punk summed up the episode by saying, "It's not a dislike; it's a hate of gays."

He's right. An ugly, twisted, perverted hate driven by fear and fueled by ignorance.
The students who verbally attacked Bridge should be charged with a hate crime. They should be identified and suspended. Re-admittance to a school in the district should hinge on completion of a "decency" or "respect" course. Refusal should lead to expulsion.

As for the teachers and administrators-how else to describe their silence than as collaboration? The district should draw up and institute strict guidelines on how "role models" should respond to such incidents.

Today, millions of gays and lesbians, as well as those of us who support equal rights for all regardless of sexual orientation, celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, a watershed moment in civil rights.

Despite important progress since then, the "lynching" of Martin Bridge proves there is still so much hate to overcome.

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