Posted on 10/28/2005 7:51:24 AM PDT by scripter
CHICAGO -- High school is a time when everyone wants to fit in.
On Tuesday, NBC5's Anna Davlantes introduced viewers to two suburban teenagers who say that fitting in didn't matter when it came time to choosing the school's homecoming king and queen.
The choice that students made, however, is attracting attention and causing controversy.
Davlantes said it may not shock people that a jock and a cheerleader were chosen as homecoming king and queen at Buffalo Grove High School, but what surprises some and concerns others is what's different about the two students and what it might say about their generation.
Jen Wohlner and Ryan Cooperman are popular leaders at the school. They're also openly gay, Davlantes said.
So, some people were surprised by what happened in their high school gym a little over a week ago, when the two were chosen as homecoming king and queen.
"The entire gym was completely packed. No one knew who was going to be king or queen," Cooperman said.
Then came the announcement: "I am proud to present to you the homecoming king and queen."
"And they were, like, Ryan Cooperman ... Jen Walner. Everyone exploded. It was just amazing," said a Buffalo Grove student and friend of the royal couple.
So, how is it that a gay student and a lesbian win the biggest high school popularity contest?
"I think it shows that is our school, and maybe the generation as a whole, is just a little more progressive," Wohlner said.
Their election shatters stereotypes, Davlantes said. They are not at all the typical homecoming king and queen.
Wohlner plays sports and went to prom with another girl last year. Ryan is a cheerleader.
"I guess you could say this year it was kind of a jock and a cheerleader, but flip-flopped positions," she said.
Other students said that the anomaly doesn't bother them.
Perhaps, Davlantes said, being openly gay in Chicago's suburban high schools no longer carries the stigma it once did.
Time magazine made the subject its cover story last week, saying that students are coming out earlier and earlier.
"I came out in eighth grade," one girl told NBC5.
"I never dated a boy before," another girl said.
"I knew, personally, around sixth grade," Cooperman said.
And the number of gay clubs in high schools has exploded from 100 a few years ago to more than 3000 nationwide today.
"It's really kind of uncool to be anti-gay," said school psychologist Jennifer Zacharski.
Attitudes have shifted dramatically in one generation, Zacharski, who sponsors Buffalo Grove's Gay-Straight Alliance.
"When they saw me in the crowd (at the homecoming) they were, like, 'Ms. Zacharski, we got it,'" she recalled.
But not everyone is cheering about the school's groundbreaking choice.
"For us, it's a sad thing," said Illinois Family Institute's spokesman Pete LaBarbera said. He claims that schools are too politically correct nowadays.
"Something that was once sort of universally regarded as a sin, is now becoming sort of cool in high school," he said. "It's easy for an adult to say, 'Oh wow, I'm doing the compassionate thing by telling this teenaged boy that he's gay,' but they won't be there when the boy becomes a man and comes down with HIV or hepititis B and C."
"Like, you know what? I'm gay and if you have a problem with that, I really could care less," Cooperman said.
"I'm proud of who I am," Wohlner said. "Not just that I'm proud of being gay, but I'm proud of all that I am."
They say their popularity has sent a message -- not about being gay, but being themselves.
"What's so appealling about them is that they are themselves. They are themselves despite whatever people might think," Zacharski said.
Davlantes said that this is the first time anyone can remember two openly gay students being named homecoming king and queen, but that could soon change.
According to a Harvard University study, the average gay person comes out of the closet just before high school graduation.
Davlantes said that conservatives are lobbying to get more groups on campus that represent an alternative viewpoint.
" You see, Gutierrez is no longer gay "
Ex-Gays, well adjusted Christians, two parent families, intelligent gun-rights advocates and conservative blacks are some of the varieties of Americans that don't exist in the media.
I'm going to borrow that from you if you don't mind.
Apparently you've been punked too.
Electing freaks at homecoming is a proud tradition and the subject of many movies and books...you of course see it through the eyes of the pro-sodomy agenda. How odd.
Oh that's right, you're here to defend the honor you your friends who practice perversion.
" They went to a large suburban school system and are thoroughly indoctrinated. "
Just to give you my opinion about the indoctrination process of younger people - I have lost two jobs in the last 10 years because of my family values that are not "in" to some younger people. The first job I got fired from I got a gay boss who was embarassed when I talked about my family - he wanted to talk to customers about trolling local bars. Job two -- I got assigned a new gay boss I started looking because I could see the tension building and I'd soon be out the door. I never ever said anything that was not completely PC it was always that I wasn't constantly reinforcing how great being Gay was.
"Electing freaks at homecoming is a proud tradition and the subject of many movies and books...you of course see it through the eyes of the pro-sodomy agenda. How odd.
Oh that's right, you're here to defend the honor you your friends who practice perversion."
In case anyone is wondering what my post is about, I'm "coming out" against the hijacking of the King's English.
They're not "gay", they are homosexuals suffering from SSAD.
"Political Correctness" = thought police.
"Diversity" = diviseness.
"liberal" = communist.
"tolerance" = forced acceptance of distasteful lifesytles, or else.
"racist" = any white person who opposes racial preferences in hiring and education.
etc., etc., ad nauseum.
You get the idea.
No sweetheart...just a dupe who consistently posts pro-sodomy agenda propaganda.
"Electing" those who practice perversion for homecoming was a prank...as opposed to a blanket support for homosexuality by the student body as you gleefully inferred. As usual.
""Electing" those who practice perversion for homecoming was a prank...as opposed to a blanket support for homosexuality by the student body as you gleefully inferred. As usual."
I read the article, but missed the part about them being confused.
BS!
"Apparently this all doesn't matter to those kids."
Your pro-homosexual agenda precedes you.
Really? Did you even read the article? It seemed pretty clear from the article that the kids at that school really didn't care, and voted for them because they like them.
I based my statement on the article. I didn't see anything in there about the election being done as a joke. Did you?
Common sense, high school experience and biased liberal media should tell you what you need to know. You on the other hand, in your zeal to support homosexual perversion, confirm what I've been saying all along.
....Gee you been here so long I guess it's been awhile since you read the "STATEMENT BY OUR FOUNDER" Jim Robinson!
Let me refresh you mind
As a conservative site, Free Republic is pro-God, pro-life, pro-family, pro-Constitution, pro-Bill of Rights, pro-gun, pro-limited government, pro-private property rights, pro-limited taxes, pro-capitalism, pro-national defense, pro-freedom, and-pro America. We oppose all forms of liberalism, socialism, fascism, pacifism, totalitarianism, anarchism, government enforced atheism, abortion-ism, feminism, homosexual-ism, racism, wacko environmentalism, judicial activism, etc. We also oppose the United Nations or any other world government body that may attempt to impose its will or rule over our sovereign nation and sovereign people. We believe in defending our borders, our constitution and our national sovereignty.
Now it's your right not to want to discuss HOMOSEXUALS so I would suggest you avoid these type of threads.
Many of us Freepers have children and grandchildren and are concerned about their exposer to this hazardous lifestyle that's why we post here.
My suggestion is just go back to your war threads.
"Common sense, high school experience and biased liberal media should tell you what you need to know."
So, what you're saying is that you have no actual information on the motivation behind this election. You're supposing that it was a prank, based on nothing but your own thinking.
Could be. Might not be, though. My high school experience won't help much. Our high school elected a blind girl in a wheelchair as homecoming queen one year, and it was no joke. She was a sweet person and everyone liked her. The election was a tribute to her popularity.
So, that won't help. What I had was a news story that said that the election was a popular one and not a prank. If you have some other real information about it, I'd be glad to consider it. Until then, I base my statements on the information at hand, not on what I wish or hope is the case.
Personally, I don't care what people do sexually, as long as they are consenting and above the age of consent. It's of no interest to me. I'm completely neutral on the issue.
OK cupcake...you believe everything you read, that's fine by me.
No bias here what so ever. Not from the "psychologist" who sponsors the pro-preverion club. Not the selective interviews and of course your ignorance of common sense.
Want to buy a bridge LOL?
" Personally, I don't care what people do sexually, as long as they are consenting and above the age of consent. "
It should concern you - we all pay for AIDS - I'm not sure at the per capita cost but it isn't trivial. So taxpayers pay for something billed as "a life-style-choice".
Also, I have two friends who were in the medical profession and have quit due to concerns that it isn't safe anymore to work in hospitals. Lastly, a friend who was a male nurse died accidently of AIDS in the 80's of a needle prick tending a gay patient.
This is an area where instructors and guidance counselors really need to provide middle school and high school kids the facts about average life expectancy, use of cigarettes and recreational drugs, serial partners, the risk of STDs, and what I can only describe as a system-wide failure in the heart and mind of a homosexual person (and I have known many) to control his/her yearning for physical intimacy. If any of my children came out to me, I would receive it as a deep, deep tragedy, on the order of a diagnosis of juvenile diabetes or worse.
" Everything being spouted NOW is no different from the Neo-nazi, KKK, white-supremacists crap "
One of the things that liberals always want to do is to paint anything anti-Gay-agenda as "hate speech". We can have opinions against the Gay agenda - we are expressing them here because you can't hear a rational discussion of the issues anywhere else. We conservatives don't want the Gay agenda being forced down our kids throats but mostly that is what's on TV and the MSM is putting out 24/7/365. Take a look at prime time TV and how many shows bring in the Gay storylines? (I'd say about 75% excluding Will and Grace.) Mainly, the Gays are always wonderful and sensitive people who are all vicitims with unusally good taste.
All the talking and degredation of someone else will not change the FACT that Schools, school boards and...... dare I say .......the privacy of the home. If anyone thinks that the "Gay" agenda is something that is attractive to young people then they must also believe that the DUMS have a platform. There is nothing "gay" or healthy about the lifestyle. But, bashing and making nasty (read filthy) remarks about them does nothing but make them VICTIMS. And we all know how treasured victims are in the American society.
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