Posted on 03/26/2002 3:59:57 AM PST by LurkedLongEnough
STRATFORD, Conn. (AP) _ For the Gay-Straight Alliance at Stratford High School, progress can be measured in the hallways: These days, only some of its posters get torn down.
Harassment and name-calling haven't vanished from the 900-student school. But its gay students _ and their straight allies _ are pleased to have a club of their own, a weekly forum to share worries, frustrations and laughs.
For Michael Burgess, a sophomore who co-founded the club with some friends in the fall of 2000, it was partly an act of self-protection.
``We were having a lot of problems,'' Burgess said. ``Not one day passed that I wasn't being called a fag.''
Gay-straight alliances, or GSAs, first appeared in Massachusetts in 1989 and have spread rapidly coast-to-coast in recent years. About 1,000 of America's 26,000 high schools now have them, according to the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network.
Critics argue that GSAs promote homosexuality and have no place in schools. Defenders say the clubs are invaluable in encouraging tolerance and easing the isolation that drives many gay students into substance abuse and suicide attempts.
``Any other minority group has their families, churches and communities behind them,'' said Patricia Boland, a school psychologist in Chesterfield County near Richmond, Va. ``Gay youth don't. If they're getting harassed, often they don't tell their parents. They're very much on their own.''
She said anti-gay sentiment can be damaging even to straight students.
``Kids shy away from the arts, or get pushed into having sex way before they're ready, just to prove they're not gay,'' Boland said.
Some GSAs consist almost entirely of gay and lesbian students. Others, like Stratford High's, have many straight members.
``A lot of my friends are gay,'' said junior Julie Baron. ``I'm straight, but because I'm in the club, somebody called me a fag. They need to grow up.''
About 50 students attended the first Stratford GSA meeting last year. The club now has about 20 regular members, and seems to have established a comfortable niche in this middle-class town of 50,000.
Early on, the group's posters were torn down swiftly, members said. A year later, gay students say face-to-face harassment has eased, and posters often manage to stay in place, though they sometimes get defaced with slurs and swastikas.
``We know the people doing it,'' Burgess said. ``But we try to ignore it. It's hard to get inside their minds, because they're so closed.''
The GSA's adviser, English teacher Michael Fiorello, is heartened by the high-spirited camaraderie that has developed among the students. ``When I was in high school, if you wanted to experience anything gay, it was going to be dark and dangerous,'' he said.
In some schools, GSAs emerged due to the efforts of a few activist students, then collapsed after they graduated. Kevin Jennings, executive director of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, blames indifferent and hostile school administrators.
``With other school clubs _ the French club, the math club _ the system commits to supporting them so they will always be there, but the system hasn't made that commitment to GSAs,'' Jennings said. ``In too many cases, once the student activist graduates or the dedicated teacher is transferred, the GSA goes with them.''
Efforts to form GSAs have been resisted in some communities by parents, school boards and clergy. But court rulings generally side with GSA supporters, primarily because of a federal law that requires equal access to public school facilities.
In California's Orange County, the Orange Unified School District tried two years ago to ban a GSA from meeting at an area high school, then reversed course in the face of a lawsuit. As part of the settlement, the board prohibited student clubs from discussing sexual activity.
In Utah, the Salt Lake City School District voted in September 2000 to end a four-year ban on all nonacademic clubs that was imposed to keep a GSA from meeting.
The outcome in Utah dismayed other foes of GSAs, including Christine Watson, mother of two high school students in Vista, Calif. She tried to rally opposition to a new GSA at their school, but was rebuffed by the principal.
``I look at this as parents' rights being eroded,'' Watson said. ``But there's nothing we can do. The parents in Utah spent a quarter of a million dollars fighting, and they lost.''
In Arlington, Texas, Martin High School senior Jesse Brown has been struggling since last year to form a GSA. His latest hopes were dashed in December when the one teacher who volunteered to sponsor the club backed away from the commitment.
``Many teachers are very fearful of backlash,'' Jennings said. ``They have mortgages to pay, they're very vulnerable.''
The National Education Association, the country's largest teachers union, has asked school districts to crack down on harassment of gay students and staff.
Gerald Newberry, executive director of the NEA's health information network, said some teachers worry that working with a GSA may label them as gay, but students generally find a faculty sponsor.
``They have rather well-developed radar _ they seek out someone who through overt or covert messages has communicated that they care about all kids in the school,'' he said.
Massachusetts, where more than half the high schools have GSAs, is the only state to help finance them. The attitude of the state's principals toward the clubs varies, depending partly on how much opposition surfaces among parents.
``It's a delicate balance, a dance that a principal has to do,'' said David Rudewick, director of a student civil rights project run by the Governor's Task Force on Hate Crimes.
Parental resistance in Massachusetts has waned over the past decade, Rudewick said. ``Society has changed. It's hard for them to say now that these clubs are going to turn kids gay.''
However, Rudewick said GSAs can backfire if members find themselves isolated.
``If the school doesn't give them resources, allow them to have projects that bring people across lines, it can be divisive,'' he said. ``It can leave students even more exposed to harassment, and the administration might turn a blind eye.''
Jennings agreed that joining a GSA can entail risks.
``But it's more damaging to feel invisible than it is to feel like a target,'' he said. ``When they form a group and have allies, that gives them a sense of power they don't have when they feel alone.''
Mike Haley, a youth policy specialist with the conservative Christian group Focus on the Family, argues that GSAs do isolate gay students. Haley campaigns against GSAs in articles and speeches that cite his personal background: He was an active homosexual during his teens and 20s, and now has a wife and child.
``I've visited GSAs,'' he said. ``They want to be all-inclusive, but they tend to become a homosexual clique on campus. The last thing I needed, when I was in high school, was to be further isolated.''
Other critics say GSAs serve as recruitment centers, drawing students into homosexuality who are still wrestling with their sexual identity.
``You get lonely, mixed-up kids, not getting along with their parents, not doing well in school, and someone tells them, 'It's not your fault,''' said conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly. ``It's simply a recruitment device.''
Michael Burgess has heard this argument, saying some Stratford parents have pressured students to shun the GSA because ``they thought we would convert them.''
Alliance members said their main purpose is to boost solidarity and have fun, not to proselytize.
``I've had friends ask me, 'Do you have to be gay, or be straight, to be in the group?''' said Ellyn Lambeck, a junior. ``They don't get it. The whole point is to unify.''
This is nothing more than a recruiting effort by the evil soddomites to enlist our children! The gays want everyone to be gay. If we don't make sure we spend much time hating the gays and being bigots, they'll take over the world and molest all the children. They've already made all the moose gay, and I'm tired of seeing gay cheese. Arrest the soddomites and lock them up for good!
< /homosexual conspiracy rant >
I’m going to guess, I could be wrong, that it’s OK in these school systems to have clubs based perversion but disallow clubs based on religion. Am I right?
In the land of Barney Fwank and the Honorable Studds, why is this not surprising?
But that's exactly what a "Gay-Straight" club is based on, right? We've been told that homosexuals are like everyone else, they just have a different "preference". So, the "diversity" that we are "celebrating" should be the equivalent of a little roundtable discussion among "leg men" and "breast men", right?
``We were having a lot of problems,'' Burgess said. ``Not one day passed that I wasn't being called a fag.'' ---- Well, take a lesson from it. Stay in that closet, and lock the door.
The GSA's adviser, English teacher Michael Fiorello, is heartened by the high-spirited camaraderie that has developed among the students. ``When I was in high school, if you wanted to experience anything gay, it was going to be dark and dangerous,'' he said. ---- A shining example of public school leadership. I wonder if he finds time to actually teach anything, or if his duties as homo cheerleader keep him too busy.
Other critics say GSAs serve as recruitment centers, drawing students into homosexuality who are still wrestling with their sexual identity.
``You get lonely, mixed-up kids, not getting along with their parents, not doing well in school, and someone tells them, 'It's not your fault,''' said conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly. ``It's simply a recruitment device.'' ------- At last, someone speaks the truth.
And, apparently they're succeeding - big time.
No exceptions.
Choice 4 Truth (http://www.choice4truth.com/)
They have two sections - one for parents and one for students/teens. Here's the link for student section:
http://www.choice4truth.com/index-teens.html
There is some really good material under the "Take the Student Pledge" section that kids can use to respond with when they are faced with queer propaganda.
Truthatschool.org (http://www.truthatschool.org/)
This site also has sections for parents and students, but is primarily a web site for students (with lots of good information).
I believe that to effectively fight the homosexual activists in the schools, we need to involve students who will take a stand against them. In order to refute the claims of the homosexual activists, these students will need information and we need to make sure they have it. Please pass this information on.
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