Hayward! I lived in Hayward for a couple of years. My paternal grandparents, father, and brother are buried in Lonetree Cemetary I have another brother who is buried in an Oakland cemetary. The brother buried in Lonetree died of AIDS in 1995 so I am aware of how the gay community is treated in the Bay area. I learned what bullying was all about in Hayward's schools, but not for being gay for being physically bigger than my peers. Porky was one of the milder names I was labeled with and you can throw in being left-handed. In those days it was considered "good education" to force lefties to be righties. Times have changed, especially since 9% of the human population is innately left-handed. Depending on what part of the country you live in you will find people who are bullied for being poor, short, fat, tall, Asian, Black, White, Latino, Roman Catholic, Muslim, etc. Gay youth are not at greater risk for being bullied for being gay than a Latino is for being Latino. Schools need to have a no tolerance stance on all bullying.
I saw a program in PBS last year that was a study of homophobia among college students. The program showed that most male homophobes fear what they don't understand and see homosexuality as a threat to their masculinity. Religious beliefs were not the paramount reason for this fear. I was not the only gay student when I was in high school, however, we did not flaunt our sexuality. Today, it seems that gay youth feel they have to throw their sexuality in the faces of those who don't understand what sexual orientation is all about. I question the sanity of any parent who would allow their child to attend school in low drag, which only emphasis a difference through choice not necessity. If parents are going to allow this then parents need to teach their children how to handle the covert and overt hostility they will encounter. The same can be said for other groups who are bullied or harassed for being different. This is not to say that bullies should be tolerated, however, self-respect is taught not legislated. I get teased for wearing an earring, but that does not affect my self-respect, I know that some of my peers can't or won't accept men with earrings.
As to discrimination in schools, I lived in Houston for 23 years where Blacks, Latino's and Asian's are treated with less tolerance than gay's. There are inequities in how school districts are funded, which to me is more of an issue that needs to be addressed than segregating one group of people who are "different" and giving them more rights than the general population. One result of being teased about my size was I lost 110 lbs and then maintained the lower weight through self-discipline; a concept that seems to have been abrogated for legislation and special interest groups.