Gay-Straight Alliance at Central exists to educate, not orientate
Do you remember the years you spent in high school? How about the pressure, social scrutiny, and the numerous other problems that you, as a teenager, dealt with daily? Now, imagine that you were to be faced with all of this, along with the confusion of your sexual orientation and the anxiety over the possibility of not being accepted by society, your friends and even your own family, over something that you cannot change.
We are responding to the commentary on Central’s Gay-Straight Alliance in the People’s Forum as well as at the Bay City Public School board meeting, both on Dec. 10.
We are members of the GSA and after reading the letter written by Kimberly Bublitz, we decided to attend the board meeting to hear her arguments. Toward the end of the meeting, audience members were allowed to speak and Mrs. Bublitz approached the microphone. Her argument was unjustifiable.
She said she had completed ”hours upon hours of Internet research on Gay-Straight Alliances,” but it is hard to believe any of her sources are credible. If you are looking for something on the Internet, you will be sure to find it. Research online will turn up anything imaginable.
”In choosing not to notify parents of this club, you are in essence taking away a parent’s right to determine what is appropriate or inappropriate for his or her child.” This was an opinion of Bublitz’s that was brought up during her proclamation, when truly, all of the information is available for parents who are willing to look.
The announcements read over our PA can be read at any time on Central’s Web site (www.baycitycentral.com). All that it takes is the slight effort required to simply visit the site. If your child has failed to inform you about being in such a club, or even that the meetings were taking place, the school system is not at fault for your lack of interest and involvement in your child’s life. It is also possible that you have instilled such a belief within your child that it is so incredibly wrong to be open-minded to opinions other than your own, that they either feel that they will be shamed or punished for mentioning the matter.
She had also stated, ”Unless I missed something in my research, the battle to stop Gay-Straight Alliance groups in Michigan has not yet been fought.” According to our sources, this is true. But why, if there are supposedly so many things wrong with Gay-Straight Alliances and all that they stand for, would the state officials tolerate such a disruptive and inappropriate organization to meet within their halls of learning? This is because it would be a useless battle. It would be both a waste of time and money. The students involved with GSA throughout the nation have done nothing wrong. The members of Central’s chapter have followed every rule and procedure to attain the right of having this organization.
All that we are attempting to do is create awareness for our peers on the discrimination and hate crimes that have been targeted towards the gay community.
Today’s teenagers, homosexual or not, need a group in which they belong. They need friends and a support system to help them surpass their struggles. Central’s GSA offers this to students. Any parent should be perfectly content with their child finding other students with whom they can relate.
To all of those who are still wary of having a Gay-Straight Alliance within your child’s school, let us make it clear to you that we do not force any student to become a member or to agree with the opinions brought up during the meetings by any individual member. Joining is absolutely voluntary. You don’t have to worry about your student ”catching” anything; if you didn’t already know, homosexuality isn’t contagious.
- Glenn Madigan and Kaitlyn Skrzypczak are juniors at Bay City Central High School and members of the Gay-Straight Alliance, which meets at the school.
Today’s teenagers, homosexual or not, need a group in which they belong. They need friends and a support system to help them surpass their struggles. Central’s GSA offers this to students.
Source: mlive.com
Massachusetts has 271 GSAs and they are vital to the life of all students in the 353 public high schools of the state. GSAs promote democracy in bringing together diverse populations in schools. GSAs also educate students about their rights and help them dream about productive and happy futures. In the fall of 2007 Greater Boston PFLAG donated copies of Courting Equality: A Documentary History of America’s First Legal Same-Sex Marriages to all MA GSAs and public high school libraries. You can check out the book and the GSA project at http://www.courtingequality.com