Guiltier on grounds of heteronomativity: On youth sexuality and disproportional sentencing

In their schools, communities, and local court systems, gay and lesbian youth get called out more frequently and punished harsher than straight youth reports this study by Himmelstein and Bruckner published in the journal Pediatrics. The study covers a eight year span (1994-2002) and finds that non-hetero-identified females get stopped by police and punished far more often than their hetero-identified peers for same actions.

A Washington Post article quotes Prof. Stacey Horn from UIC interpreting Himmelstein and Bruckner's study this way:"To me, it is saying there is some kind of internal bias that adults are not aware of that is impacting the punishment of this group," she said.

But even with more school expulsions, bigger criminal records, and more frequent determinations of deviance from those around them, "it gets better" for these kids, right?