Chicago to get "gay-friendly" school

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/10/13/gay.friendly.school/index.html

I'm opposed to the idea and I'm opposed to NYC's similarly-themed school.

The solution is not to create a "separate-but-equal" institution. We tried that already, remember? The solution is to tackle the root of the problem. If gay students are dropping out and skipping school because of harassment, then tackle the harassment.

Teach mandatory classes in which students are informed what sexual minorities exist, what they are, some common myths about them (gay men are not women in mens' bodies, etc.) and, most importantly, see to it that adults serve as positive role-models and VOCALLY stand up for gay rights, equality, and dignity.

That's what we need to do, not shuffle all the queers off into some building where they won't get hurt.

I agree with you, segregation is a bad idea.

Some of what needs to be done falls on parents, and as I'm sure you're well aware, there are some parents who teach hate.

Sure, schools should do their part to tell kids that we aren't just different in sex, or nationality, but also in sexuality. Of course when you use the word "sexuality" in regards to something the school is teaching children, some parents (be them good people or bigots) may be averse to the schools teaching it thinking they should take it into their own hands...

*sigh*

I don't think these problems will be solved in my lifetime, hell, there are still so many racists and misogynists around, and its 2008!

I don't think we'll ever eradicate hate, nor do I think we should just hope for tolerance. We shouldn't have to be tolerated, we should be accepted.

*shrug*

Oh, on a side note, for the people at these schools bullying the GLBT community, some kids are probably afraid to "come out" even to their families.

Having this school would be asking kids to stand up and come out, maybe sooner than they want to, and hell, it just gives bullies a target.

The school itself.

It is a sad day when they need to make a separate school just so kids are not abused/targeted/disadvantaged because of their sexuality.

I agree with you lightning.

Shouldn't all schools be "gay friendly"

With a name like "Pride campus" it really is just making it bloody obvious. Extra segregation isn't needed.

that just seems like a bad idea, If I were a crazy person who was really against gays and suddenly there was just one place I had to protest/attack. Well, that would make it really convient and a way bigger problem wouldn't U think?

I would have thought all schools should be 'gay-friendly' as an underlying goal, and not have to stake it out with warm fuzzy words.

And by shuffling "all the queers off into some building where they won't get hurt." as Doc puts it, it centralises them in one place where they can, and will, be victimised by those who oppose their ideals and the school.

Well intentioned, i'm sure, but poorly founded.

Whats with the big push for segration of the kids these days? If it isn't Private Schools, Private Religious School, Now its Gay Friendly Schools?. Whats next, we start mapping the DNA and send people to set schools whose DNA is the most compatible?. Come on, Segration does not teach compassion or understanding. All it does is make you unaware of anything else other then what U do at school. How can some *insert any religion *Fundamentalist kid learn not to hate some other Religion if they get put in to a school where only they go. How can somebody who has been taught that Gays are wrong and sinful or whatever overcome the predjucies if they never actually meet any gay people?. Hate just begets hate. If we would just put a little more effort to be kind and understanding think how better the world will be.

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Now theres an idea.


Schools full of twirlers!!!

Segregate out left and right handed people, so you're not getting nudged by lefties anymore.

Wow, this is going to be great!

Ridiculous! At 12/13 when people are entering high school, many kids haven't gone through puberty and haven't started making these 'choices/discoveries/assertions' about themselves yet.
It's like offering a 'minorities' school and every geek, nerd, coloured, short, tall, bullied kid can attend.
Who would want to teach at the school that's left over full of the alpha males and females who would be impossible to teach.

I can't imagine anything worse than walking around with a uniform that says "Pride campus" regardless of orientation. Maybe they should make it rainbow too!

Who wants to be part of a system that lets these outcasts think that a viable way to solve problem is to run away?

I agree that it is a poorly thought out idea.

Also, are they going to force you to go there, even if you are quite happy where you are?

I can't say I support the idea either.

So what happens to those students who are bullied for reasons other than being gay ? Or those students who are perceived as being gay, but aren't ? Will they have a special school too ?

How about those that self identify as social outcasts ? How would a person who feels "they don't fit in" be accepted in an alternative school like this ? Might they expect to encounter the same discriminatory attitudes they face in a "heterosexual" school ?

How about bisexual students ? or "questioning" students ?

How about heterosexual transvestites ?

All in all, this school and it's de facto segregation looks like it would cause more problems than it would actually solve.

I mean, a student would have to be "out" to parents, friends and family in order to attend this school...and just what percentage of GBLTQ students are out ?

What about extramural sports ? Might a religious based or traditional school refuse to compete against a team from this school and what might the repercussions be to one of those schools being beaten by "the fags" ?

I'm hoping the statistics quoted in the article linked in the OP are accurate and not a variation on the gay suicide myth ( Paul Gibson, 1989 )



How about schools based on astrological compatibility ?

I still believe that single religion schools are just as bad, it's not about celebrating religion it's about cloistering and brain washing the young into a particular view of the world. I understand specialist schools may be required in some instances, but segregation based on colour, religion, sexual preferences seem more likely to forment discord.

Impossible to teach!? The whole school system caters to these points of view, creating the idea of "normal" in the first place. We need to teach anti-oppression in our schools, really, for everyone because although its greater or smaller for every individual, we've all been oppressed in some way. All violence, exploitation or complete obliviousness is oppression, and it needs to stop.

I see what they are saying though, the people advocating for this just want to be in a place where they feel normal.

Honestly... it wouldnt be a school full of alpha males and females, it'd just end up having a new minority to be picked on... perhaps kids that don't have perfect hair or something silly like that... people with freckles... or red hair.

I have an idea. A gay-friendly karate club.

When I have kids, I'm sure they will catch flak for having two dads. That's why he's going to be put in karate classes at a young age. Martial arts are good for kids, but especially for keeping kids from getting picked on.

Impossible to teach in that these kids are the bullies and the ones who don't listen in class, seeing as all the geeks and quiet achievers are somewhere else.

Do you mean in an invisible backpack kind of way ?

Well, first of all, we need a concept of "normal" so that we can identify "abnormal" and help those kids. But that's more applicable to learning disabilities.

I'm not sure that it's the school system that is the problem. I think it's the culture at large. For most kids in the inner city ghetto, they are homophobic because they have no alternative. Nobody has ever taught them that there is another way to be and no positive role model has ever made the point.

There are those people who cling to their homophobia out of a need to feel superior to someone, or just out of sheer hatred. It's never a religion's fault; religion is a symptom, not the cause. Those people will never be educated or reasoned with. But most people, when faced with the reality that there are gay people around, will react with humanity if they can be reached at a young enough age that they haven't formed fixed worldviews.