Gay High School

Monday, July 28th, 2003 | Gay Stuff

I’ve got all SORTS of mixed feelings about this:

First public gay high school to open in NYC

On the one hand there is a lot to be said for creating a safe place for GLTB students to go where they can focus on getting an education without being harassed for who they are. There are FAR too many kids being abused in schools around the country for being gay – whether or not they actually are and it often makes it impossible for them to learn in high school. This leads to an EXTREMELY high suicide rate among queer youth… (think back to the number of times you heard the term ‘fag’ when you were in school)

On the other hand it seems to be missing the point in my mind and postponing the point at which these children learn about the realities of the real world (the good ones and the bad ones). Shouldn’t the point really be to ensure that if kids are being harassed in their schools for who they are, gay or otherwise, then shouldn’t we make the administrations of the other high schools accountable and responsible for stopping that abuse.

But maybe thats an idealized goal that can’t happen in the short term and a gay high school is a solution that can.

But doesn’t creating a separate gay high school make it that much harder to make the non-gay schools safe.

And as a parent I would also be concerned about the quality of a general education coming from a school that focused. Would my child have all of the same course selection and quality of teachers that are available at other schools.

Hmmm… Still pondering this one…

3 Comments to Gay High School

Michael Ditto
July 28, 2003

It also smells like segregation. Separate but equal. I’m not sure what to think, either. Safety was something I never experienced at my school in the suburban wasteland, but I don’t know if I could have withstood 100 horny hormone-overdriven bitchy queens, either. The 900 horny hormone-overdriven bully jocks were bad enough.

Ray
July 29, 2003

I was going to say the same thing as Michael. Segregation. I don’t like it. Why should any group of people, marginalized or otherwise have to go elsewhere? We need to be looking at the root of the problem; safety of everyone in the schools.

I could go on here and do a big rant, so I’m gonna just go have a nice relaxing drink. 🙂

jay
July 30, 2003

i don’t know if things are different now then when i was a teenager but i found it very difficult to come out let alone be comfortable with the idea that i was gay. i didn’t come out til much much later.

i agree that segregating the children (they still are at that age) at the point of high school is probably more damaging psychologically/emotionally than if they were just in a regular school and (like me) faced homophobia head on instead of running away from it which i feel the school is doing. it’s providing a place for all gay teens to run to instead of dealing with living in the world at large and being gay.

i can’t see this as a positive step. but then i also don’t think teaching inner city african american teens in ebonics is right either. why are we so concerned with our differences today? let’s focus on what we all have in common. haven’t we learned anything from our history?

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