first gay high school

Roseblum15 · #1 07-28-2003, 07:25 PM

http://www.msnbc.com/news/945134.asp

Do you guys think that this is a good idea, or is it just another way of segregation?

LeslieAGD · #2 07-28-2003, 07:52 PM

It may be a quick fix for students who feel stigmatized or victimized in "regular" public high schools, but how does this help these kids in the long run? Eventually, they will still have to go out into the real world and deal with some rude and closeminded individuals.

AllisonDG · #3 07-28-2003, 07:55 PM

I actually was just reading about this and I cannot make up my mind about my opinion. I do think that segregating gay students will not teach tolerance to the other students. Students need to learn to come together and function as a community and there are gay members of any community. While I may not agree with their lifestyle, I accept and would not hold anything against a gay classmate. I think that segregaton will only perpetuate the problem. (I think I formed an opinion during the course of this post!)

Aquastar · #4 07-28-2003, 08:05 PM

I agree that it would be ideal to have everyone at the same school ... it might be better for some kids who just have so many other things to deal with to not have to worry about being afraid to go to school every day ... but i dunno if i would call it a GOOD idea or a BAD one ... :shrugs:
<3

Kevlar281 · #5 07-28-2003, 08:19 PM

Will they be opening a separate school for the nerdy kids who get their ass kicked everyday to? I hate the whole “fear of violence excuse.” I mean how inept must the school board be to view the opening of a separate school instead of enforcing existing polices as the practical solution be?

lionlove · #6 07-28-2003, 08:23 PM

When I was in high school there was one openly gay girl who was harrased constantly. She was physically and verbally attacked and sometimes received death threats. The school's solution to the problem was to remove her from school and give her a home tutor. Nothing happened to the attackers and all they learned from this is if you harrass a gay person long enough, she will eventually go away. I'm afraid this is what will happen in this new school. I think it would be more effective in the long run if kids learned how to get along.

bethany1982 · #7 07-28-2003, 08:50 PM

Is this High School going to be separate, but equal? Will these students require similar special treatment to survive in the world?

Dionysus · #8 07-28-2003, 09:17 PM

As others said, just as with schools that are segregated by gender and race, an exclusively gay school will only shelter them. Once they go to college and get out in the real world, they will HAVE to deal with homophobes and vice versa. IMO I think it is better that they adapt at an early age, than having to deal w/ intolerance later on. I'm not even going there about colleges and jobs looking at their transcripts from a gay school-immediate disadvantage.

At the same time, I understand the want to create an environment where gay students will not be bothered because of their lifestyle, but I think isolation is a bad way of solving the problem of harrassment…especially being a public school…which comes out of our pockets. As Kevlar said, when will it stop? I guess we're going to have public schools for the ugly, gothic, and unathletic next.

Rudey · #9 07-28-2003, 10:23 PM

Separate but equal right?

-Rudey
--Maybe they can learn interior design or work on the set of Will and Grace so who am I to judge.

Eirene_DGP · #10 07-29-2003, 11:18 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Dionysus
As others said, just as with schools that are segregated by gender and race, an exclusively gay school will only shelter them. Once they go to college and get out in the real world, they will HAVE to deal with homophobes and vice versa. IMO I think it is better that they adapt at an early age, than having to deal w/ intolerance later on. I'm not even going there about colleges and jobs looking at their transcripts from a gay school-immediate disadvantage.

At the same time, I understand the want to create an environment where gay students will not be bothered because of their lifestyle, but I think isolation is a bad way of solving the problem of harrassment…especially being a public school…which comes out of our pockets. As Kevlar said, when will it stop? I guess we're going to have public schools for the ugly, gothic, and unathletic next.

Agreed. We all have things we need to deal with. If overweight, minority, handicap, or any other group that had had problems in school got their own special school, what is that saying about our society. IF the rest of America can cope, why can't they?

absolutuscchick · #11 07-29-2003, 03:57 PM

Are you JOKING me? This sounds like the stupidest idea EVER! Why do we need to put people into categories and segregate? My two best guy friends are gay. If they went to a special school (which IMO would just be to meet guys!), I would never have met them. I think that it's ridiculous. I meanare we planning on reverting back to having separate schools for blacks and whites? And what is the point of going to a school like this? Eventually, you have to learn to interact with people of all sorts. Why not now?

P.S. I'm sooo off my soapbox now....

DeltAlum · #12 07-29-2003, 04:02 PM

I think it's a bad idea. I'm not in favor of any kind of segregation.

Munchkin03 · #13 07-29-2003, 04:30 PM

This might surprise a lot of you, since I'm one of the resident GC liberals...but I'm really against this. The idea would be a little different (but not much) if it were a school open to GLBT students and their straight allies, and would have a curricular interest in gender and sexuality interests, LGBT-friendly faculty, and active GLBT interest clubs that were accepted, or if it were a private school with the interest of creating a safe space for ALL youth who were concerned with issues of sexuality.

But, it's not. It's a public school that is open to only one type of student. Public schools can't discriminate. Doesn't this violate Brown v. the Board of Education?

I know that the people who are interested in this have their hearts in the right place, really. LGBT students have a much higher dropout rate than their heterosexual peers--in part due to the harassment faced. I remember how my gay male friends were harassed every single day of their four years in high school, and the ones who weren't were firmly closeted.

These things suck, to be sure. But I'm not sure segregation in any form is the answer.

texas*princess · #14 07-29-2003, 05:05 PM

I personally feel it is a step in the backwards direction.

Like many people have already said segregating things isn't the answer because they will just be sheltered and not know how to deal with things once they move into the 'real world'

UDZETA · #15 07-29-2003, 05:22 PM

Just because they are gay deosn't mean that they have to go to that school. It sounds like it is their choice if they want to go to this H.S. or a different one. This may be what some students need to be able to get through school. They do not have to worry about being beating up or threaten. I am sure they will go through the same issue other high school students go through when it comes to dating ,what to wear, not finishing their homework, etc. Also they will have to face the real world like ever other H.S. grad. I believe this could be a good thing as long as gays do not feel that they have to go to that H.S.