Now that the courts have made absolutely clear that schools must
protect their students from harassment when they are
– or are thought to be – gay, it is time to take another look at
the problem.
Now that the courts have made absolutely clear that schools must protect their students from harassment when they are – or are thought to be – gay, it is time to take another look at the problem.
Schools must now physically step between the harassed and the harassers, the court said. But something else needs to happen, too. Minds must be changed and it’s not fair to expect the schools to do it all.
Students must learn that, whatever they may think of being gay, it is not okay to step over that invisible line into uncivilized behavior. This is torturing another human being over a lifestyle; is that what we Americans are about?
This is a communitywide problem that starts in Morgan Hill School District homes; the community and the home both need to take a hand in the solution.
Whether you think being gay is okay or not, you don’t have the right to subject another person to the verbal, emotional and physical attacks that these kids typically deal with every day.
Judge Mary M. Schroeder of the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decided in April 2003 that the school district had failed to protect its students, a decision that ended with the district under orders to train students and staff about proper behavior towards gay students. While the district’s risk-sharing Joint Powers Authority will shoulder the $1.1 million financial burden for training, the district has paid big bucks in legal fees, money that could have been used in the classroom had MHSD stepped up to the plate earlier.
It is especially worrisome that, according to interviews with Live Oak students, gay and non-gay, that the harassment continues despite the court’s intervention. Is staff and administration unaware or don’t they care? This simply has got to stop.
There originally appeared to be some disagreement between the school district and the ACLU about whether parents will be able to opt their students out of these training classes, as they can with sex education classes. Opting a child out of sex education only hurts that child; opting them out of harassment training hurts others.
Although Superintendent Carolyn McKennan stated publicly that parents could “always” opt their children out, the district has issued a statement, through School Board President George Panos, describing the mandatory nature of the training for 7th and 9th grade students. The statement also makes an important point: the training is not about sex, it is about harassment and intimidation, and the right of all students to a safe environment.
Trust us – your kids already know about being gay. They need the tools to deal with it in a humane way and this the classes will try to do.
Parents – talk to your children about how it feels to be on the losing end of harassment. Think about the jokes you tell, the words you use to describe gays and lesbians. Are your children listening? What are they learning from you?
Churches, scout troops, even sports teams can and should take a minute to discuss this issue. Each one has a special code of ethics. Do they include spitting on people because they are different?
Talk about it at work. Being gay doesn’t hurt anyone. Beating up a gay person does.
Bringing this evil out in the open is the only way to kill it. Laws and court decisions are all well and good but we, as a community of decent people, must speak out and say to our children that harassing others is wrong, wrong, wrong.
And it won’t be tolerated at school or anywhere else.
