kinda OT :: Gay HS in NYC/ Queer Eye mention of Regis and Kelly — Page 3

Erik-Like namo's, your post is interesting. I'm giving it more thought.

luluhed--I think that is a great idea. The Harvey Milk school or schools like it should ideally take in all students who need help.

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omg--I hope they DO sue on those grounds! Then, their words can be used against them. I'm amazed at the depth of prejudice some people in this country have against gays and lesbians!

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My only fear is …what happens when High School ends and these students have to enter “the real world”…

they have been living in this hate free cushion of love and support

…but the real world will probably not be like that… College may not be like that… Life may not be like that….

It’s sort of similar to what happens to the “Popular” kids when they leave High School. They go to college and they are a very small fish in a very big pond with their support system annihilated…

True, in some cases college opens a whole new supportive world to gay students but not always.

I would much rather see a law passed that protect gay/lesbian students from harm on school grounds meaning if someone beats them up, the school, by law, would be forced to expel the student and if the student is beat up and the school does nothing about it then the school is breaking the law!

Great thing about this is it would help to reduce any violence in the school to anyone…not just gays and lesbians

I mean fat kids, unnattractive kids, hell, even short kids, who are straight get picked on too..

Someone beats you up…you report it…and the kids are suspended or expelled…

If schools stood to lose something or had to spend money paying off fines, you better believe this would be enforced.

The article actually touches on these things, including an example of what happened for one guy after graduation. It also talks about how most of the abuse happens out of the view of adults. By the time graduation comes around, these people are almost adults, with much more freedom and mobility.

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Ok...so when do they open the "Mama Cass school for fat kids"...

Or the "Barbra school for big nosed girls"...

Or "The Tom Cruise School for men under 5'5"...

The minute we isolate ourselves and the minute we believe we are the only ones who are harrased in life is the minute we take four steps back to 1981.

Updated On: 9/10/03 at 09:56 AM

As longs as it's kept as a last ditch school then fine..

...but if these kids are thrown out of their homes ..that's bringing up a whole other issue...

And remember, rejection comes in all sorts of forms to all sorts of people and you don't have to be thrown out of your house to be made to feel like dirt...remember:

"If a girl isn't pretty/like a Miss. Atlantic City/all she get's from life is pity and a pat..."...

Updated On: 9/10/03 at 10:35 AM

I feel like I am in a support group when I say, "Thanks for sharing that Peter." But I mean it. All the "common sense/gut instinct" reponses that the Harvey Milk School topic brings up in some people clearly misses the specific nuances of the awful experiences that some young people are forced to go through over something as simple as who they are. I'm not naming names, but certainly some people who should know better MUST know what it's like not to be able to butch it up enough to pass, which is the first thing people react to and that starts the abuse cycle.

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Legal policy does set a tone in a culture that can contribute to practical change over time. The need for policy change and the need for some people to have safe space are not mutually exclusive. Both things are true and necessary, but it is profoundly American to see things as either/or. "There shouldn't be a special high school, there should be a law." Well, there should be both until neither is technically necessary.

Until such time as laws change and take effect and are in place long enough to influence the behaviors of would-be criminals (a process that would take generations) yes, there should be safe spaces for everybody. The Harvey Milk School serves as a model for any district that cares enough for its oppressed students to try to salvage their educations. This would include Sandusky, Ohio. Again, I would urge you to avoid the either/or dichotomy. "If they can't have it in Montana, they shouldn't have it in New York City."

Gay bashings still happen in cities and states that have gay rights laws and hate crime laws. People intent on gay bashing do not tend to stop during mid-punch-throw and say to themselves, "I better not. There's a law."

P.S. I would seriously caution you against generalizing from your specific high school experience to "but you get over it and move on...." Well, YOU might have, but different people have entirely different psychological make-ups and really are permanently damaged by trauma. Again, it's particularly American to think that anything you accomplished can just as easily be accomplished by anybody else.

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Updated On: 9/10/03 at 12:46 PM

GLSTN. Google it.

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Okay, do people just not READ the threads they contribute to? There's been a gay sensitive high school in Manhattan for years? Really? That's the one we've been posting about!

But hey, here's a reason to bring up an MTV appearance by the Fab 5 again!

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Namo, what ToT was referring to does have some bearing on the subject at hand (albeit in a very roundabout way) . What America's favorite minstrel show was "joking" about was that "some of us LIKE to be hit!" I'm sure the gay kids who are tormented daily in schools across the country thought that was a laugh-riot.

Within the last two months, there was a story in the Guardian (U.K.) paper about a TEN YEAR OLD BOY who killed himself because he was bullied in school for "acting gay". I'd link it here, but I've looked for the article on the Guardian site, but I can't find it.

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