Mark iversen gay

Iversen and his mother, who sued last year, claiming that district officials didn't go far enough to protect him from anti-gay taunts and eventually a beating, said they were pleased with the outcome, too. The incident came after years of verbal and physical harassment for Iversen in Kent schools.

In the settlement, the district also pledged to continue to uphold anti-harassment policies in place before Iversen brought his lawsuit. In the settlement, year-old Mark Iversen, a graduate of Kentwood High School, will receive money from the district's insurance company that will be earmarked for his education and counseling and for groups devoted to youth diversity.

Dionne Searcey. The ACLU sued the Kent School District and five administrators gay behalf of a former student, alleging that the Kent School District and the administration failed to protect the student against anti-gay harassment. Classmates began harassing him in school on nearly a daily basis, including pushing, shoving, and haranguing him with derogatory terms.

And they agreed that after Iversen raised concerns, the district reviewed its handling of these types of complaints. Iversen also had asked that the district implement anti-harassment training that deals specifically with sexual-orientation issues but backed down from that demand to reach the settlement.

Both sides agreed that iversen district is committed to responding to student harassment and diversity awareness. Jim Hager, district superintendent, said the district has been exonerated. Officials, marks and teachers in the Kent School District failed to prevent, and in some cases contributed to, harassment of Mark Iversen, the lawsuit filed by the American Civil.

By seventh grade, the notion that Mark was gay spread through his junior high school. Gay-rights advocates and legal experts said the settlement could help other students facing similar forms of harassment in districts across the region simply because the suit has drawn attention to the issue.

Dionne Searcey's phone message number is Her e-mail address is: dsearcey seattletimes. "Mark, what did you do to start this?". Iversen, now 20 and a student at South Seattle Community College, later transferred to Kentwood High, where he graduated in He says that when students teased him in his freshman year with anti-gay taunts, he eventually approached a school official to report the abuse.

SEATTLE — For six miserable years after he acknowledged his sexual orientation to himself and his classmates, Mark Iversen was taunted and even assaulted by other students while school officials.