Anger Over Gay Bullying Speech At Vermont School

[davidinalameda]

http://www.365gay.com/Newscon06/04/041906vermont.htm

Several parents are blasting the Burlington, Vermont school board for inviting a state-wide LGBT advocacy group to make a presentation on gay bullying at a local middle school this week.

A teenage member of Outright Vermont told the sixth graders about the bullying he faced and the difficulty he had in coping. The presentation at Lyman Hunt Middle School was part of Wellness Week". Other presentations covered topics such as tobacco, alcohol and drugs abuse, eating disorders, suicide prevention and violence against women and girls.

"Parent Kristy DeGuise said parents should have been notified in advance that a gay person would be speaking.

School is a place to learn. I don't personally believe that learning about not bashing gays is going to get them a better job in life," she told the Burlington Free Press.

sad sad SAD woman

[meegbear]

1. 6TH GRADERS EXPOSED TO A HOMOSEXUAL?!?!?

THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!!

[BOSSHOG]

2. Right wing logic, gotta love it

Exposing them to an LGBT group harms the children? Well, thanks to wellness week the kids now know how to kill themselves. Kristy should be outraged.

[squarepants]

3. darn...

:eyes: Gee, we wouldn't want children to learn how to get along with other children, now would we?

[redqueen]

6. I'll bet you dollars to doughnuts that this woman LIKES bullying.

There are parents out there who actually think it helps the kids.

Insane? Stupid? I don't care which it is... I just want their asinine voices drowned out by thinking people!

[Kerrytravelers]

13. Welcome to DU Squarepants!

:hi:

[Bill McBlueState]

4. almost as offensive

Almost as offensive is the idea that if "learning about X" won't "get them a better job in life" than there's no use spending time on it in the classroom.

Why doesn't Kristy pull her kid out of school so she can teach him to be the major league tool she so clearly wants him to be?

[redqueen]

5. Sad? That's not sad... that's hateful.

And stupid... extremely stupid. Where did this $#&*W( get the idea that only subjects which will enhance earning potential should be taught in school?

:mad:

[pepperbear]

7. I wish someone wouls stand up and say this....

School is a place to learn. I don't personally believe that learning about not bashing gays is going to get them a better job in life," she told the Burlington Free Press.

YEAH, but it'll help them, uh, learn, that it isn't OK to bash, um, ANYONE for who or what they are.

[BR_Parkway]

8. Dear Parents - This note is being sent from the school board to inform

you that your child, both this school year and during the course of the rest of his/her natural life, will probably encounter people that are different than they are. Gay people, black people, Asians, people who have lived in or moved from other countries, Muslims, Wiccans and all sorts of other people.

Your job, as a parent, it to teach your child to respect all people - even if you don't like them. You've been informed, not shut the fuck up!

Thank you,

XXX School Board.

[GodlessBiker]

9. It would be a James Watt (Reagan's Secretary of the Interior) moment ...

Dear Parent:

Next Tuesday there will be a black, a woman, two Jews, a cripple, and a gay person addressing the student body....

[UncleSepp]

15. What's the rest of the joke?

Sounds like a great setup! :-) A black, a woman, two Jews, a cripple, and a gay person walk into a school...

[dsc]

18. Watt was describing a panel he had appointed

[gator_in_Ontario]

11. Amen BR

I don't always agree with Dr. Phil *ducking* but one of the things he says that makes sense is: we are not raising children, we are raising adults. And adults need to be able to interact with all kinds of different people. You make an excellent point.
Also I would argue the whole "what about the children?" thing is BS...but that is another discussion.

[xchrom]

10. so you know there is a gay child in there somewhere --

and he or she hears about this crow making loud unattractive noices about how children shouldn't learn about how gay bashing isn't ok.

and you know he or she stands a good chance of being taunted or tormented or bullied by his or her classmates.

while i wasn't bullied or bashed as a child -- certainly i've had good friends who were identified as gay by their peers and really put through the ringer.

in each of those cases -- hearing from someone who suffered -- and survived -- the same would have been a life saver.

[dsc]

12. amen

I literally knew no gay people when I was going through middle and high school. I had no idea I had any kind of life to live. I later found out about a gay aunt but by then I was not being picked on nearly as much. When I was in middle school I would have loved to have met a kid who had made it to the other side.

[Kerrytravelers]

14. If she doesn't want her kid around people who aren't just like she is...

... then I suggest finding a private school that discriminates and signing the kid up there. If not, then shut up. People are all around you and you have to learn to get along to be a successful human being.

[UncleSepp]

16. Even within her own argument, she's wrong

Getting along with gay folks might indeed help with getting a job, and certainly with keeping one. Her gay-bashing progeny might do fine at the local Burger Thing, but one doesn't get very far at corporations like Microsoft (for example) with that kind of attitude. You can be fired the same day for that crap.

Not that it's any kind of argument, but still... way to limit your kid to your weird little world, Mom.

[NMMNG]

17. Yeah, teaching kids to interact better with others definitely won't help

them in the job market.


What an imbecile that woman is. :eyes:

[donco6]

19. Does she know federal law requires bullying prevention . . .

programs in schools? And that gay kids are several times more likely to be bullied than anyone else?

Pathetic woman.