365Gay.com
(Honolulu, Hawaii) In the first case in the country to specifically address the treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth in juvenile facilities, the state of Hawaii will by pay $625,000 to end a federal lawsuit by the ACLU on behalf of three LGBT young people.
The agreement was announced Thursday by the ACLU.
… In another instance cited in the suit, a male-to-female transgender student was repeatedly verbally abused and preached to by guards who called her “wrong” and “unnatural” and threatened to cut off her hair. After she was transferred to the boys’ unit, she was physically assaulted and groped, often in front of guards who did nothing. Rather than attempting to ensure her safety, HYCF segregated her for almost two months, and did not allow her to interact at all with other wards.
“What has happened here in Hawaii should put juvenile systems nationwide on notice,” said Tamara Lange, a staff attorney with the ACLU’s Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Project.