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Loading ...Gay community divided on LGBT high school
09.19.2008 3:25pm EDT
(Chicago) A public hearing on the pros and cons of a high school for LGBT students has found divisions within Chicago’s gay community on the advantages of such a school.
About 200 people attended the hearing, the first step in the process. It still requires approval by a Chicago Public Schools evaluation team with the final decision up to the head of the school system, Arne Duncan.Called the Social Justice High School—Pride Campus it would offer a core curriculum preparing students for college, The Chicago Tribune reports. The earliest it could be up and running would be 2012.
Among the proponents of the school was Chad Weiden, who is openly gay and currently an assistant principal at the Social Justice High School. He would become principal of Pride Campus, the paper reports.
“[We want] to continue to provide a college-prep campus for students who are often overlooked. Gay, lesbian and transgender students are often overlooked in our district. And this is a school for all students,” Weiden told the hearing, according to The Tribune.
But Andy Thayer, of the Gay Liberation Network, voiced what he sees as the downside of the school. Thayer told the hearing it could give students a false sense of security and ill prepare them for the real world.
He also said that he was concerned that the school would allow Chicago Public School administrators to ignore their responsibility for making sure gay and lesbian students throughout the whole school system are being treated respectfully.
“My fear is that the rest of the system will be let off the hook,” Thayer said. “The notion that the Pride Campus is a silver bullet to set aside all needs of [lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender] youth is mistaken.”
Weiden said that if the proposal gains final approval the school would have about 600 students.
The first all-gay high school in the U.S. opened in New York City in 2003, named for slain San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk.
A 2005 study commissioned by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network found that gay-bashing is a major problem in the nation’s schools.
Three-quarters of students surveyed across America said that in the 2004-2005 school year they heard derogatory remarks such as “faggot” or “dyke” frequently or often at school, and nearly nine out of ten reported hearing “that’s so gay” or “you’re so gay” – meaning stupid or worthless – frequently or often.
Over a third of students said they experienced physical harassment at school on the basis of sexual orientation and more than a quarter on the basis of their gender expression.
Nearly one-in-five students reported they had been physically assaulted because of their sexual orientation and over a tenth because of their gender expression.
The study also showed that bullying has had a negative impact on learning.
LGBT students were five times more likely to report having skipped school in the last month because of safety concerns than the general population of students.
I guess as a 55 year old I am old-fashioned as far as this is concerned.
I really believe we must all at least
try to get along or is there any real
hope for the future? I know young gay
people have it harder in our open world.
I just kept my mouth shut when I was
in high school or I would have gotten the
sh** kicked out of me in the tough NYC
high school I went to. I really don’t
think a gay school is the answer.
The posts are delayed a great deal, like an hour+. Sorry if this is a duplicate.
Whether it is a good idea or not, there are several greater issues I see happening for a school which is probably a “separate but equal” case, even it is voluntary segregation.
When the funding for such a school occurs, I would expect the homophobes and the religious-wrong will do everything in their power to stop or at least reduce the funding to this school, especially if they are in control of the school boards, and most of them are already. These special students and teachers will get the “hand-me-down” books and other school equipment, because they will be seen by the bigots as less than human and as a blight on the community. Better yet, who will be appointed to police this action? Should one put the fox in charge of the hen/rooster house?
I imagine the bigots will protest nearby the school when the children are coming and going to school. The protesters will fling slurs, if not eggs and perhaps even bricks, knives and bullets. While the inside of the school may be a “protected environment”, the closer to the school one gets, the more dangerous the “neighborhood” will be for those “queer younguns” (and their families) coming and going to school.
Of course, I too longed such a loving, kind and creative environment as a gay child. What the hell, I would love for there to be such an environment like that today, and it should be the whole world. Unfortunately, that is not the way of the world.
Please cue the Earth Wind and Fire song:
That’s The Way Of The World:
From the lyrics:
“A child is born with a heart of gold
The way of the world makes his heart grow cold”
That was the very first song I heard when I stepped into my first gay bar in 1975. And Oh, it is still so appropriate! All the local bars in Florida are closing because everyone here is using the Internet to hook up. Perhaps we need to send children to school on the Internet to save money and keep them all in a protected environment, one’s own home.
Yeah, I know we all had some issues at home with our parents, and many LGBTI… children have had to endure discrimination, if not outright physical and mental abuse from their parents.
So just exactly where is this protected environment that one can live in? I think it is just a pipe dream.
Let’s educate the people everywhere, and if they cannot at least behave humanely, then put them in a controlled environment. It is called reform school and prison. They are already well established, well funded, well protected and well guarded. And I don’t have to think about being bothered by the “criminals”.
I meant of course to say, “provide,” not “previde.”
The LGTB community needs to come up with strategies to deal with this issue. To many of us have had to simply “accept” this harrassment we received as children and teenagers at school. Many of our parents had the attitude that this was a “normal” part of our growing up. When we hear of these harrassment and bullying incidents occurring we need to be on the phone to our local school board members and let them know in no uncertain terms that a low-key, laid back approach to this is not acceptable and if better enforcement of safety and protection and support for all students that they can be removed from office. Maybe if they hear from enough people they’ll get the idea and start insisting that principals and teachers and school employees do their jobs as they’re supposed to do.
I understand why they want to create the High School. Because the teen suicide rate among gay teens is astronomical, they are often the one’s who suffer most in terms of GPA in HS and they’re often the victims of physical and verbal assault; I was as a teen growing up in a small town in Kentucky.
But I think this is a horrible idea. It will only isolate the gay community from the rest of the world more and, I hate to be grim, but if people feel so strongly against gays/lesbians, all it takes is one nut-case to plant a bomb and well, I think you get the picture. In my opinion, it opens them up to even more harassment because they’re separating themselves.
But I must point out, there are schools and colleges for only black students. So I don’t see how people can argue “What next, a school for kids with glasses?”
Being picked on for being overweight, wearing glasses, etc. is FAR different than the assault many gay/lesbians face in HS. I, unfortunately, was one of those teens who would receive daily death threats via telephone, have their car egged, beaten with bats and 2×4’s, etc. I agree something needs to be done about the safety but a separate school is not the answer.
I am a 37 year old counseling student from the Orlando area of Central Florida. I agree with Ray, standing by our principles is important but the immediate safety of at-risk youth is just a bit more important in my book. Social Justice High School is only one part of the solution…a more immediate part of the solution. Providing workshops, speaking engagements involving GLBT youth (as much as possible), enforcing protective laws, and making the curriculum of mainstream schools more inclusive are other more long-term measures that need to be considered. When we all live in THE PRESENT how can we expect our kids to live IN THE FUTURE. We need to meet them in the present with solutions that meet their present needs. To use an expression from my neck of the woods, “Don’t put the cart before the horse.”
All y’all saying that this type of HS is not the answer: what d’y'all suppose we do then? I’m a gay teen and I am fear for my safety every day. How’s anyone to learn in that kind of environment? I don’t care if I’m separated from straight people, I really don’t. I just want to be able to go to school for one day without being afraid to go down a certain hallway or to go inside the bathroom without being afraid of what other guys will accuse me of doing. We can yell about how we need tolerance instead but that isn’t gonna happen anytime soon; we might as well be talking to a brick wall.
But what happens when you go into the real world…there is not going to be a workforce divided, whether gay or straight people are picked on in school..maybe homeschool instead..we can’t divide the world by sexual prefernce
these seems like we are going backwards in time, we would never bring up dividing races again, why would we do this?
Are we going backwards or meeting our kids where the circumstances of their lives are at? Meeting life on life’s terms, in the present is not a bad thing. Many of our youth are under too much pressure in the school system to survive and prosper. For the ones going to high schools for GLBT youth they do not need to be reminded about the realities of homophobia and heterosexism in the “real world.” Offering them more choices gives them more possibilities. More choices = saved young lives (Have you looked at the statistics on completed or attempted suicide?), less academic burn-out, and more opportunities to focus of their academics (which will incidently do a great deal to make them more marketable in a competative job market), and give them opportunities to build self-esteem. The benefits of this kind of learning environment can last a lifetime. If you have to ask why we are doing this without being open to other points of view you are not thinking about our kids and their immediate needs for safety…Schools like Social Justice High School is “PART” of the solution. One of my program directors in the counseling profession once said that “If you are not part of the solution you are part of the problem.” Lets not add to our kids problems by limiting solutions that can save their lives.
Don’t get me wrong. I strongly believe we need to work on equal rights, social integration and anti-harassment campaigns within the public school system. However, until anti-gay violence, harassment and indifference are history, there will always be a need for these types of schools, where gay, lesbian, bisexuals and transgendered students are safe.
I never graduated high school, from 16 to 17, 11th grade was a complete hell. I was outed by people whom I thought were friends in a public school in the mid 90s in Alabama. While I neither confirmed nor denied my sexual orientation, my last semester was a nightmare. My mother recalled seeing me come home, pale as a ghost with fear. I failed my second semester. I tried to go to a different public school, across the county, but the harassment and death threats were so much, that I developed a severe social anxiety and started to carry a hand gun to school. By the 3rd death threat, I finally called the FBI due to the school not taking action. The agent in charge, who knew my mother and family, recommended that I get my GED, go to college and take my civil service exam. But at this time, in my life, I was terrified, socially, of people, I couldn’t shake the extreme fear of classrooms and violent homophobia.
If an alternative gay school, like those proposed above, were available, I could have finished high school and went to college like everyone else. Instead, at 30, right now, I have to struggle on my two bachelors while people much younger have careers.
As much as we might like the greater society to reject homophobia, embrace us as equals, this is not the reality. This doesn’t mean we should stop fighting, however we need our safe spaces for the most vulnerable. Gay and lesbian teens have the highest suicide rate the world over. And the ones not lost to suicide, are often lost to violence, both by their peers and societies at large. Any gay pseudo-intellectual who is willing to sacrifice gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered or questioning youth to their quasi-utopian vision of a kumbaya world is guilty of apathetic complacency at best.
While it is wonderful to fight for gay integration in society, especially in public institutions(ie schools) we mustn’t lose sight of the realities faced by gay youth.
There would be no need for such a school in an ideal world. In the real world, however, we have plenty of religious organizations and powerful politicians spreading hatred in public about the LGBT community. Many parents believe them and teach this to their children daily. It is therefore irresponsible to suggest that the teacher can successfully counter all this hatred. If anyone wants to help our teachers, then they should try to help elect as our next President someone who treats the LGBT community equally all the time.
Man, the first thing I thought when I read this article was that I wished the opportunity was there when I was a kid growing up. Then maybe I would have had a social life outside of going to dances with friends as friends.
Still, there is a long way to go and this doesn’t seem correct to me. We need to work for equality everywhere, and that includes schools. Division and isolation is not the answer. I really hope Chad Weiden is looking at what is best for the kids, and not his career.
The gains we have made since the 70s have been because we have not backed away from being out and forcing the straight world to deal with us. There have been individual consequences to pay (I own my own business and have lost customers when they saw my photo in the paper at the local Pride celebration). Some of the consequences are much worse, including violence. But segregation isn’t the answer. Education is. There will be a time when being openly gay will not have negative consequences, and it will happen because there are those of us who have lived openly gay in a straight world.
While I certainly understand that no one likes kids to be bullied, made fun of, or to be put outside the “it” social circle, or worse be victim to violence or hate… this cannot be the answer, if it were, why did the black community fight so hard for DE segregation… the only answer that will work is making sure our school systems offer equal protection for each and every student, including gay and lesbian students. If all the gay and lesbian students grew up divided, the whole idea of hetero being “regular” and “normal” would be reinforced to both those attending the “regular” school, and those attending the “special, different, or weird” homo school… the thing we as GLBT people need to realize is that we are normal people too, we need to function as a normal part of society, and realize that we are not “special”. How can we expect the public at large to understand the rights we ask for are not “special rights” they are just regular old “human rights” if we keep seperating ourselves and saying that we require “special” or “different” circumstances to succeed. Im not saying its easy… the past hundred years have proven that… but we must keep this goal in mind.