gender: School May Expel Gay Student

School May Expel Gay Student

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - A gay 14-year-old youth could be expelled from a prestigious private school in Brazil because he has announced he is in love with a schoolmate, the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper reported on Monday.

The school has informed the student -- identified by Folha only as ``Paulo'' -- that unless he leaves voluntarily, he would be barred from returning next year because his public crush has made the other student uncomfortable and subject to taunts.

Paulo, who publicized the controversy by writing to Folha's teen complaint section, said he wants to stay at the school and charged he is being discriminated against because he is gay.

He said he wrote a love letter to ``Marcelo,'' 16, at the start of the year and let other students know of his attraction after two years of keeping it secret.

``What I did, expressing my love, my passion, is something any boy or girl my age does endlessly. But because I'm different, I have to keep this secret or I become a problem,'' Paulo told Folha in an interview which did not reveal his true identity.

The director of the Sao Paulo school told Folha that the teasing of the other boy would only get worse next year when the two share the same courtyard and cafeteria.

Folha said it did not identify the director or the school to protect the identities of the boys. The director said he does not think the school board was biased against the boy.

``He's a good boy. The problem is that the other student is getting taunted,'' the director said.

He said the school was encouraging Paulo, who gets good grades, to withdraw voluntarily because an expulsion would damage his scholastic records.