In Suburb, Battle Goes Public on Bullying of Gay Students

[groovedaddy]

ANOKA, Minn. — This sprawling suburban school system, much of it within Michele Bachmann’s Congressional district, is caught in the eye of one of the country’s hottest culture wars — how homosexuality should be discussed in the schools.

After years of harsh conflict between advocates for gay students and Christian conservatives, the issue was already highly charged here. Then in July, six students brought a lawsuit contending that school officials have failed to stop relentless antigay bullying and that a district policy requiring teachers to remain “neutral” on issues of sexual orientation has fostered oppressive silence and a corrosive stigma.

Also this summer, parents and students here learned that the federal Department of Justice was deep into a civil rights investigation into complaints about unchecked harassment of gay students in the district. The inquiry is still under way.

Through it all, conservative Christian groups have demanded that the schools avoid any descriptions of homosexuality or same-sex marriage as normal, warning against any surrender to what they say is the “homosexual agenda” of recruiting youngsters to an “unhealthy and abnormal lifestyle.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/13/us/13bully.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha23

[joeybee12]

1. Fuckers. KNR

[frazzled]

2. Read this morning and was outraged--Please give to SPLC

Southern Poverty Law Center is at the forefront of battling these kinds of things in court, and they are very good at it. Please support them for this and other good work they do.

The most preposterous thing about this is how teachers/administrators are gagged from talking about "gay" issues or stopping bullying of real or perceived gay kids--but the kids are are not gagged from hurling gay insults. These people are nuts.

[Cool Logic]

3. Bullying has been around since they invented children...

And sometimes children can be very cruel.

You don't need a Department of Justice investigation to figure that out.

[Raster]

4. However, the bullying against Gay kids or kids even perceived to be Gay is epidemic.

Kids are killing themselves because of the bullying. And quite frankly, I do want the Department of Justice to help figure this out.

Cruel children come from cruel parents. And apathy is acceptance.