Posted on 11/20/2003 8:05:46 AM PST by kattracks
CLARKSVILLE, Md. (AP) — Inspired by a high school assignment, Stephanie Haaser leaped onto a cafeteria table, shouted "End homophobia now!" and kissed classmate Katherine Pecore.Haaser said she was making a statement on behalf of gay and lesbian students because she was bothered by the verbal and physical harassment they face.
Their principal said he respected what the heterosexual students were trying to do, but they needed to learn more appropriate ways to make a point. Haaser and Pecore were suspended for two days.
"It's highly inappropriate to stand on a table in the cafeteria and make out, whether the kiss was heterosexual or homosexual," said River Hill High School principal Scott Pfeifer. "I don't think there's a school in the country where parents would consider that appropriate behavior."
Haaser, a junior, said she chose to make the statement as part of an English class assignment, which required that she engage in a nonconformist act in the tradition of Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson.
"You hear derogatory comments in virtually every class," Haaser said. "It's not always spiteful — someone might say, 'Oh that's so gay,' where 'gay' means stupid or dumb. But those comments can be really hurtful."
Haaser said teachers who hear such remarks rarely intervene.
River Hill administrators said they pride themselves on the school's respect for diversity. Pfeifer said the school has a Gay-Straight Alliance club and a diversity committee of students, teachers and parents. The school recently celebrated National Coming Out Day.
"I wouldn't put up River Hill as a national model," Pfeifer said, "but I would say we are as sensitive about these issues as anyone."
The incident has sparked debate about tolerance at the school.
A few days after the kiss, juniors Mia Freyer and Anna Boyland staged a brief protest outside the school on behalf of the suspended students. They carried signs that read "Down with Homophobia" and "Don't: Hate and discriminate."
Joshua Lamont, a spokesman for the national Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, said there are just under 2,000 gay-straight alliance clubs at high schools and the number of clubs grew by 50 percent in the past year.
But there has been a growth of intolerance, as well, Lamont said. An annual survey of high school students found that more than 90 percent reported hearing homophobic remarks last year and more than 82 percent reported teachers heard the remarks but did nothing about them, Lamont said.
A third of the students who identified themselves as gay in the survey reported skipping school for fear of verbal or physical harassment.
"I fear harassment is the rule rather than the exception," Lamont said.
Eileen Woodbury, a special assistant to Howard County school superintendent John O'Rourke, said county school officials plan to strengthen staff development on diversity issues.
"I don't doubt that it happens in our schools as well and we're deeply concerned about the professional response," she said.
Haaser said the kiss has raised awareness of the problem.
"It's been wonderful to see and hear the discussion that have taken place at my school since the kiss. People are a lot more aware of the issue," she said. "And I like to think the hurtful, derogatory comments about gays have subsided, at least for a little while."
And this is related to the study of the English language how?
It was only in recent time did the defination of gay change. So, it's changing again. My kids and all their friends us 'gay' to mean dumb or stupid all the time. What about those women who were named Gay? I'll bet they don't like that their name was corrupted, that's just hurtful.
Main Entry: 1gay
Pronunciation: 'gA
Function: adjective
Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French gai
Date: 14th century
1 a : happily excited : MERRY b : keenly alive and exuberant : having or inducing high spirits
2 a : BRIGHT, LIVELY <gay sunny meadows> b : brilliant in color
3 : given to social pleasures; also : LICENTIOUS
4 a : HOMOSEXUAL b : of, relating to, or used by homosexuals <the gay rights movement> <a gay bar>
synonym see LIVELY
- gay adverb
- gay·ness noun
At the time of the assigment, the student could have simply stood up and said, "Bite me b!+ch, I'm not doing this stupid assignment."
That act, of course, would have completed the student's required assignment. She could have also avoided the unsanitary act of placing her germ-covered shoes on the surface of a table where other students were eating.
Can you imagine the dweebs that are members of that club?
Step One
Take God out of the classroom
Step Two
Remove all signs of Christmas
Step Three
Demand amoral actions/lifestyles as normal, everyday life.
Anyone care to add the remaining steps?
The nasty cynical part of my brain identifies that as "get the undivided attention of every heterosexual male in the room".
Flood the club with Evangelical Christian kids who are determined to save the others from homosexual sin!
I don't care if gay people want to be gay. As long as no sex it taking place in front of me it's none of my business. I don't care for their political agenda and their pushing a lifestyle on the rest of us. Their insistence on putting their sexuality in our faces had led to stuff like this in the public schools.
If a school wishes to allow African/Asian/Indian/Anglo-American celebrations in the name of diversity, so be it. But, how in the hell does a public school justify celebrating a sexual act as part of diversity? How can it have escaped them that by pushing gay acceptance like this they are legitimizing, even encouraging, ALL forms of sexuality. They are telling adolescents to go out and have whatever sex you want, because it's all good. STD's and teen pregnancy be damned! It just blows my mind.
Her parent's must be so proud......
Guys trying to meet bisexual chicks, maybe?
The only rule a school needs is this: All students will act in a civilized, polite manner to one another, the teachers and to the staff.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.