he's not allowed to be proud that he's straight

The BBQ Pit
1

ok. working in a church i see a lot of what i consider to be right-wing propaganda. but even i can see why the afa is upset about this. a high school student has been banned from wearing a hooded sweatshirt that reads “straight pride” because it offends the gay and bisexual population of the school.

give me a break.

you can read the afa article here: elliot’s story. and here are a few excerpts:

ok, i could almost understand if the school was having problems with students harrassing eachother about sexual identity, and had therefore banned anything proclaiming a preference one way or the other. after all, it’s a school. you are there to learn, not pick up dates.

i could even understand if they had, like my junior high, banned all clothing with any writing or emblems. sometimes it’s impossible to keep up with what is going to cause problems and what isn’t.

but, no, they’ve decided that it’s only ok to express yourself if you are homosexual. after all, we need to be accepting of alternative lifestyles.

fuck that. if you’re going to provide advice, help, and information about sex, relationship, family and whatnot, provide them for all students. if you are going to encourage students to be themselves, and be proud and express themselves, then encourage all of the students.

how fucking stupid is this?

2

On one hand, it’s not like his tee-shirt says “death to faggots”. I think it’s ridiculous to suspend him over this.

On the other hand, you know as well as I do that every day is straight pride day, in which the worth of straight people as such is almost universally affirmed and their sexuality accepted and celebrated.

3

Like “white pride,” “straight pride” is far more likely to be intended by the speaker as an expression of hatred against people of the other than to be a mer expression of self-esteem.

4

This kid sounds like he was intentionally trying to get a rise out of the administration. If I were a school administrator, I would have probably let it slide, but come one, what did the kid expect? Principals aren’t really noted for their sense of humor.

Also, what matt said.

5

Not to be a stick in the mud, but how many times does a straight guy get picked on or beat up simply because he is straight? How many times does a straight guy lose a job because he is straight? How many times are straight guys made fun of because of their sexual preference? You see where I am going with this? Don’t get me wrong if the kid wants to wear the shirt by all means let’em but don’t bash gay rights. You do realize that gays are the only ones who can’t really sue over discrimination because they are just that, gay? Until gay people are treated with the same respect I think there should be more of these safe zones.

Anyways back to the point of the kid not being allowed wear the sweatshirt. Are students walking around wearing t-shirts with upside down pink triangles that say gay pride? Probably not. It’s something that is in the classroom, not being pushed by other students. And this kinda makes this guy sound like a real dick.

And with this

the kid doesn’t have a chance in hell I think. Your in a high school. You aren’t allowed freedom of speech per se. You cannot go around saying whatever it is you want and expect to get away with it.

Screw it I’m done with this.

6

“come on.” Damn.

7

As an ex-Woodburyite (no shit; it’s where I moved from), I am glad to see that the school took steps to prevent this sweatshirt from being worn, and to ensure that gay and lesbian students (and they exist) feel safe within the walls of the schoolhouse.

What I especially take issue with is the attitude that Elliott takes that “why be politically correct when you can be right?!” (as cut and paste from the AFA page you linked to, and that’s as far as I got before I felt physically nauseated) Taking into account that this attitude drives some kids to take their own lives, it goes from political correctness to sheer ignorance and bigotry.

If Elliott wants to wear his sweatshirt, fine. He can wear it to Target or the grocery store or the movies or anywhere he wants to. But I applaud the teachers and administration for taking steps to make Woodbury High School a haven of tolerance and abolition of ignorance.

Robin

8

Although I agree with your position, it seems to me that in Tinker the SCOTUS ruled that you do not leave your rights at the school door. Perhaps someone can clarify.

9

I could very well be wrong. All I know is that we covered this kind of stuff in very extensively in my Political Science 130 class in regards to Civil Rights. You are correct all rights aren’t left at the door just some.

10

ok, i don’t agree with half of what the kid says in his article. but it seems like you are all claiming that it’s ok to censor this kid just because he isn’t a minority, and that’s bullshit.

the school is not telling him that this is a controversial subject that doesn’t need to be dealt with at school. they are censoring his point of view because they don’t agree with him, and that is wrong, high school or not.

“white pride” does not mean “white power.” let me tell you something, i am fucking proud to be white. i am proud of my irish ancestors who came to this country with nothing and lived as responsible, respectable citizens. i am proud of my italian great-grandparents who went from living in the ghetto to owning it. and i’m proud of my italian great-grandfather who fled italy because he did not support mussolini, and instead raised his son to be a good american. my grandfather fought for this country; the country that subjugated his own mother to a sweatshop because no one wanted to hire an immigrant.

people have a right to be proud of who they are, whether you like it or not. isn’t that what the gay-rights movement is about?

11

Listen this kid is a fucking dick. How is the school banning his right to free speech? They have the authority to allow or disallow the things they want in their school. Again how in the world is this “recruitment” into the gay and lesbian lifestyle? Is it just because a kid that happens to be gay/lesbian needs someone to talk to and doesn’t know anyone that understands him/her so they decide to call someone who is willing to help them with a problem? How is that recruiting? Like I said this kid is a fucking dick. That kids shirt wasn’t advocating a place for straight kids to get help if they need it. It was just a thing that he liked cause he thought it was “cool”. And I highly fucking doubt this nitwit was harassed because of sexual orientation.

And this kids ideology is better? I’m straight and I’ve got something to bitch about! WTF do you have to be upset about? What a fucking ass. And you do know people have this thing called free will that allows them to choose and decide the things they want to believe. Again this pisses me off to no end. Fuck I’m straight even. Times like this I wish I were gay…

12

maybe he is a dick. but does it say anything about him harrassing gay or bi students? or trying to actually stop the “safe zones”? you have a right in this country to think stupid things and be an asshole as long as you don’t hurt anybody else.

as for the safe zones, it’s a fucking school. they are there to learn, not to chat about their boyfriends. and does the school offer any kind of help to heterosexual kids who might be having problems? believe it or not, there are lots of straight kids in this country, and most of them are having sex when they don’t know jack shit about it. i consider that to be a much bigger problem, as the straight kids are probably going to bring more stupid kids into this world. is the school setting up classrooms to talk to and advise them?

they are bending over so fucking far backwards to appease a minority that they’re missing the point that all kids should be treated and helped equally, regardless of sexual orientation.

13

I’ve seen this kid interviewed, and I think he has an attitude I do not share. And, I have to say I have no problem with a school having a “safe zone” from gays/lesbians. I have no doubt that the gay kids need one - school can be Hell if you are different.

However… Forbidding him from wearing the shirt is just pushing it too far. It’s not like (as matt points out) the shirt says “Death to faggots” or something like that. By forbidding him from wearing the shirt, all they did was start this whole media mess about it. And I have to say, I agree - if you are going to allow one group of students express themselves, you are going to look like an ass if you forbid another group of students from expressing themselves. (If the other group is not being blatantly hateful. Which this kid was not.) I don’t believe there is nothing directly hateful about being proud about being white, or straight, or anything.

14

Again like I said it’s different for gay/lesbians than it is for straight people. They are treated differently. A straight kid could go and talk to the guidance counseler and feel alright. Now on the other hand a gay might feel threatened because they don’t know that persons background on the topic of sexuality. All they are doing for this kids is helping them by giving them a place to talk about their problems.

Did I say he was harassing or trying to stop the safe zones? Yeah you can think like an asshole but it’d be a whole helluva lot better if you didn’t.

Listen the biggest problem I have is that this kid has something against these safe zones. He has come up with some fucked up idea that they are trying to create more gays/lesbians. Simple fact of the matter is that the kids are not the ones with the upside down pink triangles on, it’s in the classroom on a wall. It isn’t saying “psssstt hey we are gay you should come join us and prance around in a merry fashion” (no offense meant to any gays I’m just exaggerating here). All it is is help for a kid that is confused, possibly hurt, and needing guidance. He knew what kind of reaction that shirt was going cause. The gay/lesbian students weren’t expressing themeselves. A faculty member created this (from what I can tell) and I’m sure as hell if a faculty member started a group for kids to come and talk about their life problems there wouldn’t be any problems.

Again I have the problem with this kids attitude towards the “safe zones”.

15

thank you! somebody understands what i am trying to say here.

i am not anti-homosexual, and i don’t agree with a lot of things that the afa says. if they knew half the things i’ve done, they’d condemn me as a murdering pagan whore (pro-choice agnostic non-virgin) and send me on my merry way to hell.

but this is just too far. the kid is not inciting riots here. the school is encouraging all of the gay and bi students to express themselves (as well they should), but denying him that same right. he isn’t being hateful. he is just proud to be the way he is, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

16

and that means he shouldn’t be allowed to wear a shirt that proclaims him as being straight? where the hell is the connection? his shirt does not rally against the safe-zones, nor does it insult homosexuals. it only describes his particular preference.

17

Obviously it insulted some homosexuals if someone brought it up to the Assistant Principal. And look at my first post in this thread it says

I’m not against this kid wearing the shirt just for wearing it and having straight pride. I’m against this kid wearing the shirt because he thinks he has to rebuttal with straight pride propaganda because people are willing to listen to gays and their problems. Seems as if he wants the attention drawed to him.

Maybe I’m not making myself clear on this. I don’t know. I’m just saying this kid could have used some common sense and avoided the whole thing. He could have talked to the administration about it if he had problems with the safe zones. If he went that route then got suspended or something along those lines then yeah I’d think unfair treatment, but that isn’t the way it happened. I’m not going to get into a full blown argument over this. I don’t have the time to keep this up (no net connection for a week).

18

IMHO, the kid’s an asshole.

I would’ve been intensely grateful to know that there was somewhere to go in school to discuss being gay. No offense, but if you’re straight, you can’t imagine the pressures that go along with simultaneously discovering your sexuality, and discovering that your sexuality sets you apart from most of humanity.

The addition of knuckledraggers like this schmoe taking every opportunity to congratulate themselves on their ability to swim the mainstream is unnecessary cruelty, but idiots have to compensate somehow, I guess.

On the other hand, I think the administration’s reaction lacked imagination and foresight. They should have been able to see that the kid was trying to escalate the issue into an issue, and done anything but ban the shirt. They gave him just what he wanted, and now we have to deal with the phrase “Straight Pride” as a media fixture for a while. Won’t that be fun.

If I’d been the assistant principal, I’d have gotten a few trusted students together, and asked them to come up with some of their own shirts. Stuff like, “Red-headed Pride”, “Brown-eyed Pride”, “Short Pride”, “Wide Pride”, “Attention Deficit Disorder Pride”, “Smart Pride”, “Weird Pride”, etc. To paraphrase the inestimable Dr. Who, the best place to hide a needle is in a stack of needles. And then we wouldn’t have to deal with another stalwart bastion of moronic intolerance.

And Cessandra, it sounds like your family has racked up a very impressive set of achievements. You have every right to be proud of them. But doesn’t it make sense to be proud of them for their intelligence, their dedication, their persistence, their creativity, their independence and their drive to succeed, rather than taking pride in the color of their skin? They didn’t choose to be white, but they did choose to, and work hard to, take charge of their lives and make themselves into admirable human beings.

19

Bravo, mrvisible! Beautifully stated.

20

I know some of this has been covered before, but I gotta say it anyway.

I, unfortunately, am a heterosexual Christian white male. I say unfortunately because that seats me in a rather justifiably looked down upon position.

For millenia, we whities have been picking on people. That’s rather irrefutable fact.

As a result, we’ve had millenia of white Christian straight male pride. Because for millenia, anybody who said anything otherwise would be censored/censured/castrated/killed, depending. In fact, the very fact that I say “white” rather than “German/Swedish/Yugoslavian American” says something about us: we crackers have pretty high ethnic self-esteem.

Not so for other cultures. Minorities have always been on the other side of the metaphorical teeter-totter; the higher we go, the lower we force someone else.

Crux of the matter is this: yeah, we straight people have every right to be proud. But we’ve never really had reason to. The reason you see “Gay Pride” paraphernalia is because for millenia, it hasn’t been okay to be gay. It hasn’t been culturally acceptable. To proclaim homosexuality would trigger the censor/censure/castrate/kill fixed-action pattern.

“Gay Pride” stuff fights against the societal norm that suggests that homosexuality is wrong, rather than different. The norm still exists, though it’s weakening. Straight pride shirts reinforce it. We straight people don’t need to be proud. If anything, we need to be humbled.

You don’t see “Left-Handed Pride” shirts. The reason is simple: left-handed people haven’t exactly been persecuted. Left-handed has always been different rather than wrong.

Maybe millenia from now, sexuality will be the same way. I hope so.

But for now, I don’t care how proud you are to be straight, white, male, Christian; if your pride comes at the expense of someone else’s self-esteem, then keep a friggin’ lid on it.