Seems the Georgia Board of Education is proposing to require parental permission for students to join student groups. Currently, only athletic groups have such requirements, because of the danger of injury.
According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the impetus for the measure is the growing number of high school student groups catering to gay students.
This is just sad. (Yes, I think their story is accurate.)
When will our state stop concerning itself with sexual orientation and making blatant attempts to demean gays and promote the notion that homosexuals are second-class citizens?
I may be misunderstanding you, but…
Substitute the following for “LGBT people” with any of the following other common high school groups and see how silly that sounds:
chess players
Bible readers
drama enthusiasts
computer geeks
gamers
science fiction fans
Okay, that’s a little disanalogous. Unless you consider being Gay a “hobby or pastime”. Sharing a race, or sexual preference, isn’t exactly what I’d call a ‘shared interest’ like chess, or gaming, or a religion or philosophy.
I want to join the Red-Headed League, but I’m not qualified.
I, too, look forward to the day we don’t need what are essentially separatist organizations fighting for their own slice of the equality pie.
I just see a lot of irony, say, in an organization for gay pride that demands the same treatment as everyone else - a lack of discrimination - but which by the very nature of such a group, serves to further distinguish its members from average folks.
In my brain, it’s kinda like saying “I’m over here! Don’t look at me!” - if that makes sense.
And my response wasn’t referring to a Gay-Straight Alliance group, just generic LBGT groups.
I’d also like to point out that the OP’s chosen title is misleading.
I figured that would come up, and I actually agree with this sentiment (except that I also wouldn’t put religion into the mere “shared interest” category like chess).
What I object to is jumping to the conclusion that student groups which center on gay interests should or would become obsolete if gays were granted full social equality.
There’s no need to assume that gay students should only want to meet and form clubs because they’re fighting oppression.
I actually look forward to a day when a gay student group is viewed as every bit as normal and even mundane as a chess club, drama club, Bible study group, young Democrats, or what have you – or perhaps more aptly an Asian student group, for instance – students who get together because they share something, no matter if it’s something they choose or something they’re born into. I only regret that I don’t believe I’ll live to see that day.
Yes, we’ve joined the Basques. I take it you didn’t receive your red neckerchief?
[Total hijack].
Hey Otto, I’m gonna be in Madison tomorrow, can you recommend a fine eatery near the Overture Center? (Going to see the Four Bitchin’ Babes).
[/Total hijack]
I’m sorry. My politically correct anti-stereotype programming forces me to refuse the notion that any two gay people have anything in common besides being gay. Not fashion sense, nor dancing ability, not even Oscar Wildean Wit.
Memo: Because specifically gay groups are separatist and discriminatory, all such groups will be disbanded. Henceforth, any gay high-schoolers who want a boyfriend should go over to CandidGamera’s or stpauler’s house and grab his crotch.
Being gay gives them a lot of things potentially in common. Being ostracized by students, teachers, and school administrators. (Were you really not aware of this?) Threats of violence and condemnation from parents. The general emotional trauma of being different and having half your country hate you and religious leaders smite you. Having to deal with asshat local governments that pass stupid rules. Not being able to get married in most states. Having bosses and landlords within their legal rights to remove you just for being gay. Not being able to properly serve your country. Creating huge-ass messes in the legal realms of divorce, custody, and inheritance.
When gay people have just as much in common with each other as straight people have in common with each other, I’ll be happy to see the Gay-Straight Alliance Club as a redundant hold-over from the past for posers and show-offs. Until then, I’m unlikely to be convinced that just shutting the fuck up about it will solve all the above problems.
But yes, wouldn’t that day be nice. :rolleyes: All animals are equal, after all.
That’s quite a story. I’d like to make some observations, and be corrected by those who know better.
I’m surprised that non-athletic student groups meeting with school support don’t already require parental permission. Sports aren’t the only activity that may involve liability issues.
Although the AJC played up the anti-gay aspects of this, the evidence pretty much amounts to this: 1) the proposal was supported by opponents of gay organizations (like Hudgens, who sounds like a nasty gob of - this is the pit, right? - festering pus); 2) the extra paperwork of permission slips places an unnecessary burden on the advisors of student groups; and 3) that the proposal discourages participation by students who want the support of their peers but are unwilling or unable to discuss the issue with their parents. Of these, (3) seems like the only serious threat, and I’m not sure what to think about that. On one hand, I’m all for parents knowing what their kids are up to. On the other, I recognize that the need for gay student groups is especially acute for those kids whose parents are least likely to approve their participation, and that these groups may well be a necessary part of facilitating the intra-family communication that’s going to have to happen eventually.
I’ve been trying to find the text of the legislation. It would be good, I think, if it were vague and sloopily written enough that schools could get away with generic permission slips that didn’t differentiate between the GSA and the chess club.
The whole business, though, is superficial in the sense that none of these groups are secret organizations. If my child joins the drama club, GSA, or future homemakers of America, I’m probably going to know without being terribly intrusive, just by being reasonably attentive.
:mad:
I went to GSA my senior year of high school. Trust me, the group did good for the people there. It would be a terrible thing that they’d have to get parental permission to go- one of the best things about the group is that people can rely on the rest of the group without their parents. The trouble with parents was part of the reason some of the people went.
I think this is the core issue: The parents are afraid of what happens at the GSA. They’re probably worried that their kids will have other kids there hook up for sex or that the leader would tell them things that would corrupt the children.
In my opinion, there needs to be some kind of communication between the GSA and parents. Maybe a sheet of paper that talks about what the GSA is all about and gives an email address or phone number to call if they have questions. My parents were like me going to GSA because they thought they were teaching me pro-gay propaganda. They asked to go to a meeting- the intentions were good but I said no because it would have made everyone else uncomfortable. So having the parents go wouldn’t work.
I stand by the title. You only have so many characters to get the idea across, and I assume that people on this board know how to use the mouseover to read the opening of the OP before entering the thread.
I said in the OP that I do credit the AJC’s contention that the move to require blanket parental consent is being driven by the desire to quash gay student groups. Others are free to dispute that idea in their posts, but the title accurately reflects the topic I’m presenting/pitting.
