Study: Gay Teens More Likely to Face Stricter Punishments

Gay teens, particularly young lesbians, are more likely than their straight peers to get expelled from school, arrested and convicted of adult crimes, according to a new study published in Pediatrics by researchers at Yale University.

Those surprising results published in the American Academy of Pediatrics' journal were featured today in a story in The Washington Post that said:

[F]or similar misconduct, gay adolescents were roughly 1.25 to 3 times more likely to be sanctioned than their straight peers. The sexual-orientation disparity was greatest for girls. Girls who identified themselves as lesbian or bisexual experienced 50 percent more police stops and reported more than twice as many juvenile arrests and convictions as other teen girls in similar trouble, the study said.

The new findings suggest another layer of complexity with regards to last week's cover story, "Sext Crimes," which looked at one young lesbian's punishment for sexting.

Photo by Vivian Johnson.