A gay student at Metro-Midtown Alternative High School in Kansas may face expulsion after school official claim the 17-year-old junior harassed a fellow student in a school bathroom.

Jimmy Iniguez has been suspended pending a hearing Thursday but says he is innocent and that he was just talking to the other male student, who is a friend. Iniguez now believes he is being discriminated against for being openly gay, The Wichita Eagle reports.

"I am openly gay, and some people don't like that. But I never bothered anybody," Iniguez said. "All I want is to go back to school."

According to Iniguez, the incident began when a female friend told him she had heard a rumor that a mutual male friend of theirs was gay.

"I told her that rumor was false," Iniguez said. "I said I would know, because I was his best friend."

But, "it's like you can't be straight and have a gay friend," he added.

When the male student saw Iniguez in the bathroom later that day, he asked Iniguez what was going on.

"So I told him, 'Some people are saying you're gay, but don't worry. I told them it wasn't true,' " Iniguez said. "But he still got kind of upset."

The student, who is 18, allegedly returned to class and threatened students and a teacher, Iniguez said. He was suspended and later expelled.

School officials then suspended Iniguez, saying he was partly to blame because he harassed the teenager in the bathroom.

"It appears to me, if there's any harassment here, it's on the part of the administration at the school," said John McKean, a lawyer representing Iniguez and his mother.

The teenager, a longtime friend of Iniguez's, has agreed to testify on Iniguez's behalf at today's hearing, McKean said.

The Kansas Equality Coalition says the event highlights the need for USD 259's [the Wichita Public School District] anti-discrimination policy to be changed to include sexual orientation and perceived sexual orientation.

According to North High School senior and Students United member, Derek Cooley, "Jimmy's experience is not unique. As a gay student, I have been discriminated against. Many students have encountered discrimination based upon sexual orientation in USD 259. The frequent occurrences that students have endured emphasize the fact that change is needed. As students in USD259, we believe that all students should be treated fairly in our schools. To ensure student safety and fairness, the school board needs to change its anti-discrimination policy. The school district's anti-discrimination policy is meant to protect all of its students, but in fact, students are not protected from discrimination based upon sexual orientation."

Heights High School Junior and Students United member Marcus McNeal agrees, "As Jimmy's story highlights, there is a serious need to expand the district's anti-discrimination policy to include 'actual or perceived sexual orientation.' Students United, East High School Gay-Straight Alliance and statewide allies have called on the school board to adopt the proposed changes."

East High School junior Nicole Cross, East Gay-Straight Alliance and Students United member, describes the situation further. "The school board claims that the anti-bullying plan protects students from discrimination, but if the anti-bullying plan and current anti-discrimination policy actually protected all students, then we would not be here today and Jimmy would not be in this awful situation. The anti-discrimination policy needs to be amended to include sexual orientation and perceived sexual orientation. Discrimination is discrimination, and it needs to be stopped."

Last update: 03-27-2008 14:10