Sixteen-year-old Dominick Halse told ABCNEWS' Claire Shipman that he arrives at his school in Castleton on Hudson, N.Y., before all the other kids every day in order to avoid some of the torment he's faced over the years as a gay teen.

"There was boys that said they would like to kill me and drag me behind a car, or take me to an island with all the other gays and shoot me," he says. "You don't need death threats as a child… it's hard."

The HRW report suggests that high school can indeed be a terrifying experience for gay teens. Based on interviews with more than 250 students and teachers and parents in seven states, the study finds that treatment of gay students in American public schools constitutes a human rights issue.

Getting it From All Sides

"You've got 2 million kids dealing with this," says Widney Brown of Human Rights Watch. "You've got their peers harassing them because they've gotten the message that it's OK. And you've got the adults in their lives — teachers, administrators, politicians and their communities — totally failing to protect them."

As a result, gay teens may devise their own methods for avoiding such abuse.

Halse says he's come up with different ways to protect himself against physical abuse from other students during the school day. "I cannot use the boys' restroom," he said. "I go to the bathroom in the nurse's office… or there's a single restroom in the cafeteria that I go to, because you live in fear."

Though he is an excellent student and a talented musician, Halse spends as little time in school as possible. In fact, he plans to graduate a year early.

At home, however, he says the taunts still ring in his ears. "'Are you too good for us? Are you too good for us, faggot?'" he recalls being asked. "And they would push me into a locker."

His mother, Angela Halse, says she is frightened to send her son off to school every day. "He couldn't even walk down the hall," she says. "He came home one day and his flute was in pieces. There were times when he thought he just wanted to go home and hide."

Halse says he sometimes did skip classes and hid out for the day. "It just gets to the point where you're afraid to even wake up, to open your eyes," he says.

At one point three years ago, the taunting became too much to bear and Halse attempted to kill himself.

"It just came to a breaking point and I could not take it anymore," he said.

Abuse of Gay Teens Widespread

The suicide attempt proved to be a turning point for Halse: With the help of his parents and local gay support groups, he accepted his sexuality and confronted his school to demand better treatment.

"I give him a lot of credit for opening up like that," says Ralph DiMarino, principal at Halse's High School "Letting us know, 'I have a problem. I need some help in dealing with this, and it's not just for me, it's for all students.'"

According to the Human Rights Watch, abuse of gay teens is not regional or gender-based. It happens to young men and women from all over the country.

Jesse Fuenes says when she attended a Los Angeles high school, she was forced to deal with the same kind of daily abuse described by Halse.

"I had pebbles thrown at me for a week and a half," she says. "That ended up in rock throwing and I was bleeding."

Fuenes said she is still angry with one teacher who ignored her suffering.

"He saw the taunting, the teasing, the pushing, the shoving in the hallways, and never ever said anything," she says. "At the end, he would just laugh."

'Last Bastion of Intolerance'

One school singled out for praise by Human Rights Watch applauds is Fairfax High School in Los Angeles, which has counseling programs and education about tolerance from the top down.

"I think that gay-bashing is probably the last bastion of intolerance that is still supported by society at large," says Fairfax Principal Heather Daims. "So it's difficult for people to come forward."

Many gay students do manage to overcome the abuse with a little help.

Halse is following his dreams and looking forward to graduating from high school. He plans to study social work in college. Though he is still scared at times, he hopes that his successes may help others win their battles for fair treatment.

"All my pain and all my struggle will be worth it if it makes a difference for even one person," he says.  

This story was produced for Good Morning America by ABCNEWS' Claire Shipman and John Kennedy.