Posted on 09/09/2003 9:33:41 AM PDT by Jimmyclyde
PROTEST BATTLE OUTSIDE GAY HS
September 9, 2003 -- A handful of demonstrators - most of them out-of-towners - showed up yesterday to protest the country's first stand-alone high school for gays, but they were drowned out by hundreds of supporters. Cops positioned the two groups on opposite sides of the street at Harvey Milk HS at 2 Astor Place, as it opened its doors to 72 students and seven teachers.
"For those who say this school is not necessary, I would refer you to some of the slogans on the placards of the protesters," said City Council Speaker Gifford Miller - pointing to placards that read, "God hates fags" and "Sodomy: It's to die for."
"I'm here to preach at this because this is wicked. Something is terribly wrong with this. It is an abomination before God," countered Ruben Israel, 42, from Los Angeles.
"The city has spent millions of dollars specifically for the [gays], promoting [gay] ideas," said Megan Phelps-Roper, 17, from Topeka, Kan. "Not only is it against your own laws, prohibiting sexual discrimination, but it is against God's laws."
Religion and holy writ were also invoked by many of the more than 200 people, most of them New Yorkers, who turned up to support the students, who were quickly ushered past police barricades into the school. "I'm here as a Christian," said supporter Bob Griffith, 42, of Manhattan. "The kind of sentiment being expressed [by the protesters] is not true to what God would have us do."
Supporters of the school waved rainbow flags and held up signs such as "God is Love," and "Happy 1st day of School."
Some in the contingent chanted directly at the protesters: "Two, four, six, eight, sodomy is really great!"
Schools Chancellor Joel Klein said he wished the critics would leave the "small and vulnerable population" at Milk HS alone.
"I'm just saddened by it," he said. "The most important thing is the school is open. People are teaching and learning."
Klein added that the school is not strictly for homosexuals and that any student can apply.
Klein said many students who dropped out of other high schools have graduated from the Milk program and gone on to college. The new school is an expansion of a 18-year-old program - a smaller version of Harvey Milk HS has been in operation for gay and lesbian students since 1985.
School cheer?
Most schools have at least 20 or more students per teacher. What gives? Guess the seven teachers will be too tired.
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