The Human Rights Watch-based proposal to cover lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues in classrooms in Japan is way overdue. For too long, these students have faced verbal abuse, physical harassment and far worse because of homophobia.
By implementing new educational guidelines and providing teachers with training, the proposal has the potential to alter an environment that has been linked to dropouts and teenage suicide. Even when LGBT students are not driven to such extremes, their lives can still be a daily hell.
New York City has taken a different approach in its attempt to provide a welcoming setting. In September 2003, it opened Harvey Milk High School, the nation's first public school for LGBT students. Named for the assassinated gay San Francisco official, the school was immediately hit with a lawsuit charging that it was a waste of city money and illegal under the state's sexual-bias laws.