LGBT Online High School Launches

The nation's first online high school for gay youth has been launched out of the Minneapolis area, aiming to provide educational opportunities to ostracized kids around the country who have left school due to anti-gay tormenting and bullying.

Other online schools exist, as do bricks-and-mortar schools that serve gay students. But the Minnesota program is the first to combine the two features, according to the International Association for K-12 Online Learning. It is the brainchild of David Glick, the first online learning coordinator at the Minnesota Department of Education. He has received applications from students across the country and from faculty around the world. "We may not bring people closer physically — but we will in every other way," Glick said. "We want to make them feel more confident about who they are." The online nature of the school allows it to reach young people wherever they have Internet access — especially in rural areas, whose smaller populations makes a physical version of his school impossible, Glick said. It also removes gay students from potentially hostile school environments and places them in what he touts as a "safe and welcoming educational community." Instead of facing bullies every day, students would be learning with other students who understand their concerns.

Some educators fear that the online environment would only worse the isolation of LGBT students, but the school's backers say that student-teacher interaction is actually higher with online learning. Visit the site of the GLBTQ Online High School. The school is a registered non-profit and is accepting donations. Classes are slated to begin in early 2010.