Trustee resigns over gay policy

MLive.com ^ | June 22, 2004 | L. Kurtzman

[wmichgrad]

A member of the Portage school board resigned Monday night after his fellow trustees approved a district anti-harassment policy that contained the term "sexual orientation."

Jerry Whitaker, a board member for five years, said he had made a commitment to himself not to serve on any board that included sexual orientation in its policies. His resignation was effective immediately.

"It's a personal conviction," he said. "I believe in equal rights, not special rights."

In the past, Whitaker, 42, had staunchly opposed adding sexual orientation to the district's nondiscrimination policy, which is separate from the anti-harassment policy. When a student in Portage Central High School's Gay-Straight Alliance approached the board in 2001 to talk about alleged discrimination in the schools, Whitaker said homosexuality, unlike race or gender, is a lifestyle choice that should not be protected by district policy.

He repeated his viewpoint the following year, when the issue was again raised in the district. In 2003, he also spoke out against the Kalamazoo Public Schools' decision to add sexual orientation to its nondiscrimination policy, accusing KPS of being influenced by potential grant money that required such policies.

Portage's other board members, though they distanced themselves from Whitaker's statements, refused to alter the nondiscrimination policy in 2002, saying it protected everyone as it was.

But on Monday, five members of the seven-member board -- trustee Shirley Johnson was absent -- voted for the revised anti-harassment policy. It now reads, in part: "Harassment of students for any reason, whether it is based on characteristics that are stipulated in the district's nondiscrimination policies; or other characteristics such as physical appearance, sexual orientation, attire, social or economic status; will be subject to discipline."

Whitaker, who voted against the new policy, made a motion that "sexual orientation" be removed, but he received no support. A few minutes later, during board member comments, he announced that he would resign.

Board President Tom Eddy said he was not surprised but was disappointed by Whitaker's decision to quit. He said, however, that Whitaker "is a man of strong conviction, and I respect him for that."

Whitaker, a father of three who won re-election in 2003, is the sixth board member to quit since 1990, according to district officials. He is probably the only board member to leave for ideological reasons, they said; the other resignations were related to health or work.

The district has 20 days to fill Whitaker's seat, Eddy said. The board's executive committee will meet soon with Portage Superintendent Pete McFarlane to decide how to proceed. The board will select the new member, who will serve until next year's election, school attorney John Manske said.

This year's school board elections were held just a week ago, with newcomer Jennifer Whistler winning a spot on the board with the most votes and Eddy narrowly recapturing his seat, beating out challenger Suzanne LeBlanc by about 100 votes.

[longtermmemmory]

Now the homosexuals have free reign over those children. Will we see straight flight? Do the citizen parents have the right to veto this special right with a referendum?


(BTW: Sexual orientation is used instead of the older sexual preference because the semantic nuance is that orientation does not imply choice as does "preference". Its a homo thing.)

[stompk]

Good for him !!!

[pageonetoo]

accusing KPS of being influenced by potential grant money that required such policies. ...

Your tax dollars, at work!

[longtermmemmory]

How about a federal law overiding and outlawing such "grant demands" based on sexual behavior. To do this we need a clear majority to to overcome the Rinos in the senate. It will take time but there is only 0.5-2.7% of them and far far more of us.

[The Ghost of FReepers Past]

Flee!

[Bobby Chang]

Good call. What this policy, long rejected by shareholders at major firms, allows is simple; it permits child molesters to work at child-care centres by using a free excuse.

[wmichgrad]

Child molesters?

[little jeremiah]

Homosexual Agenda ping - Good to see a man who not only talks the talk but walks the walk. But it would have been better if all the pro-homosexual board members quit.

Now, people need to RIP their kids out of that school district. Which they should have done anyway by now.

Isn't it amazing that roughly 2% of the population (and supposedly not all of them are radicals - f'rinstance Tammy Bruce) can control other 98%? When you seriusly consider this, it's like living in some kind of Twilight Zone alternate reality, like we've all gone collectively mad.

My new motto:

TAKE A STAND FOR TRUTH! SPEAK UP FOR TRUTH! TAKE ACTION FOR TRUTH!

No one is born "gay", and homosexuality is not normal, natural, healthy, or morally benign. There is help for those so afflicted, and they have no right to afflict the rest of us - especially OUR children.

Let me and Scripter know if anyone wants on/off this pinglist.

[little jeremiah]

A much higher percentage of child molestation is committed by homosexuals than normal people. Or, it could be stated this way, that a higher percentage of homosexuals molest children than normal people.

There have been *many* studies done which corroborate this. The only way homosexuals and their supporters can try to deny this is by saying that a man molesting a boy isn't "really" a homosexual, he's a "pedophile" even if molests only boys.

Classicly throughout history it has been an accepted reality that homosexuals are notoriously interested in young people - teenagers on down to pre-pubescent boys. Thats' why they have often been called "pederasts".

[wmichgrad]

I would not call anyone who molests a child "normal." It would seem to me that there are many cases in which heterosexuals molest only same sex children.

Can you share links to some of these studies? I am interested in reading what they have to say.

[sweetliberty]

I don't blame him. It's nice to see that there are still some people who stand on principle even when it involves sacrifice. I hope he finds a better job.

[sweetliberty]

"BTW: Sexual orientation is used instead of the older sexual preference because the semantic nuance is that orientation does not imply choice as does "preference".

Precisely! And quite obvious, too. That is one of those things that, if I hear it, I will deliberately change the terminology and if it persists, will challenge it.

[scripter]

Here are some articles, of which some list many studies as supporting evidence for their position:

Child Molestation and Homosexuality
Homosexual Rape and Murder of Children
Homosexuality and Child Sexual Abuse

This link usually works but the site is down at this time:

Homosexuality and child molestation: the link, the likelihood, the lasting effects.

Also, insurance companies are now starting to either raise their rates significantly when homosexuals are around children, or not insure them at all:

BBBSA's Inclusion of Homosexuals Causes Insurance Woes

[little jeremiah]

Thanks for the links! I will read them (in some cases, re-read them) and memorize them!

Just kidding. Maybe learn (finally) how to makes links other than doing the http: bit.

[scripter]

Maybe learn (finally) how to makes links

It's easier than you think!

[scripter]

It's back up:

This link usually works but the site is down at this time:

Homosexuality and child molestation: the link, the likelihood, the lasting effects.

[wmichgrad]

Thanks for the links!

[mrustow]

When a student in Portage Central High School's Gay-Straight Alliance approached the board in 2001 to talk about alleged discrimination in the schools, Whitaker said homosexuality, unlike race or gender, is a lifestyle choice that should not be protected by district policy.

I see that lefties (at Web sites such as religioustolerance.org) are now pigeonholing the understanding of homosexuality as a "lifestyle" as "conservative." But I remember all too well, that it was homosexual activists who coined and insisted on the notion of homosexuality as a "lifestyle" throughout the 1970s.

[Bobby Chang]

Here's how a child molester can earn a job to children-related positions in such a school district with the silly policy:

1. A child molester applies for a job at a child-care centre run by the school with such a policy.

2. The person is rejected for his past after failing a background check.

3. The person then claims "discrimination because of sexual orientation" and files a lawsuit in court claiming he was discriminated because of it in violation of school policy that there can be no discrimination by "sexual orientation".

4. An activist judge (so many were hired by Clinton remember, and liberals controlled the nomination process of judges almost continuously since 1933) finds the school discriminated and forces the school to hire the molester.

That's how it works. They just need to shop for the right judge and they beat us again.

Speaking of Western Michigan . . .