Posted on 06/30/2002 7:31:07 PM PDT by LarryLied
NEW YORK (June 27, 2002) -- The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, or GLSEN, today expressed grave concern over the U. S. Supreme Court’s decision to uphold a Cleveland private-school voucher program. According to GLSEN, the Court’s ruling in Zelman v. Simmons-Harris undermines efforts to ensure the safety of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students.
GLSEN noted that virtually all of the schools participating in the Cleveland program are religious and that such schools are routinely exempted from complying with laws that protect LGBT students from harassment and discrimination.
“The Court has affirmed a voucher program that allows badly needed public funds to be used in private schools that operate outside the purview of laws that protect students from harassment and discrimination,” said Executive Director Kevin Jennings, a former teacher.
“This decision will leave behind lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students in environments where their safety cannot be guaranteed or properly monitored.”
GLSEN research indicates that there is indeed cause for concern about the treatment of LGBT students in schools comparable to those participating in the Cleveland program.
The GLSEN 2001 National School Climate Survey found that 95% of LGBT students in private religious schools frequently hear homophobic commentary, and 65% report feeling unsafe at school because of their sexual orientation or gender identity/expression. Consequently, 30% report skipping class because they feel unsafe due to anti-LGBT harassment and 22% report skipping entire days of school for the same reason.
“Taxpayer dollars should be spent on creating schools where every student can learn, “ Jennings added, “not diverted to schools with established track records of failing to do so and with no legal accountability for improving.”
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GLSEN is the largest national network of parents, students, educators and others working to create safe schools for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students and staff. Visit www.glsen.org.
Like I told Hillary! on another thread...."Oh shut up". What a bunch of hooey. They'll be as safe as any other student. Whine, whine, whine.
Yet most Americans polled say that homosexuality should NOT be "protected," should not be credited or advanced.
I just wonder if there isn't a HUGE backlash brewing. If it were up to me, I'd just like to see them crawl back into the closet, and leave the rest of us, healthy and well-balanced individuals alone. But they refuse; they insist on sticking it in our faces at every opportunity.
I don't know that a majority of Americans will ever accept homosexuality. It is a serious mental and emotional dysfunction; it is an illness. And we're just not into accepting illness as "just an alternative lifestyle." Some will, but most will not ever.
So if they continue to push and push, will the day come that the majority is just going to push back?
Excuse me but if they are left in the public schools they are "safe" according to their definition. Nothing says they MUST go to a religious school. Puh-leease. They just want to force their views on me wherever I go, or worse, on my kid wherever he goes.
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Now they can't force their propaganda on all students for free.
Not really. If there are enough of them to justify making a profit, you can be sure that some group will create a school to cater to them. Perhaps the real problem here is that they realize that there are so few of them that no one will be able to establish a business that would be worth the effort.
At any rate I can see their school mascot now - The Flaming Reds, or some such name.
Without a comparison to public schools this data is useless. I would imagine at least 99% of all students hear "homophobic" comments at public schools. There is no comparison when it comes to violence in public schools vs. private schools. They are far far safer in any religious school.
From what I can tell, the government schools are going to come out ahead on this financially. If I recall correctly, the vouchers that the Cleveland students received were for about $2300. The Cleveland schools spend MUCH more than that per student. They are going to come out ahead on per pupil expenditures. What this WILL do is reduce the need for more and more government teachers....teachers who pay dues to the NEA. The children will be fine. The real threat is to the union bosses and their agenda.
They mean the public schools they've destroyed? Gee, too bad.
They can start their own schools of Satan worship.
They're angry they can't get their minions inside the Christian school doors. The cross hanging on the door stops them.
It's parents choice, remember? Individual rights?
Most private schools won't let them set foot in the door. This is why they're mad. They want a steady supply of new "partners".
I completely agree with you on this. I wish people would keep the fact that they have sexual deviations to themselves, just like they used to do in the good old days. If I'm working with somebody, I neither want to know nor am I interested in finding out that he or she is a homosexual. Why do these people feel the need to tell people at work, at school, and elsewhere that they are sexual deviates. And then homosexuals seem surprised when people that they inform of their sexual deviations express disapproval or disgust. It would be no different than if I went around telling everybody that I fantasize about having sexual relations with my mother, and then being surprised when people look at me strangely and tell me that I have psychological problems.
To generate hate. They do everything they can to get people to hate them.
The more hate they can generate, the closer it gets them to an elite status above all others through hate crime legislation.
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