Lesbian teens sue Minn. school over pep fest
This article was a little tough for me, as I started to see things from multiple POVs. Of course, this lead to me rambling :P
On one hand, I really do think it's crap that we STILL have to fight issues of gender and sexual discrimination. No matter what your personal or religious beliefs are regarding gender roles or sexual orientation, the only person who should have a say in those decisions are the individual, and for minors, the individual's parents. (Yes, I know that there are still too many parents who haven't learned tolerance, and probably never will. However, they are still the parents, and that's a separate battle that digresses from this debate.)
Gender roles and sexuality are an issue of personal morals, and do not put people in danger. Allowing society or government to dictate who people can love, based on “traditional” values (ie. Christian) is no different than if those entities dictated whether people could eat pig, if our society and government happened to be predominately Jewish or Muslim.
However, I think the school's reasons for changing things, and thus preventing the lesbian couple from doing this makes sense. The article mentions that the school has already had six students commit suicide, possibly due to being bullied for being gay. Now, these girls might feel they can deal with the bullying they would face, but the school has a legitimate reason to be concerned. It's not fair to the girls, or the students who voted for them, but under current circumstances, this school can't afford to allow this in the face of what has been happening. Making this very grand display, while noble, could possibly cause more harm than good for all of the homosexual students in the area. Smashing a hornet's nest with a big stick might knock it off the tree, but it's also going to send out a swarm of angry hornets that will attack everything in sight. Sometimes subtlety is the better method to reach the end goal.
Obviously change is needed here, but it won't be achieved by shoving it down people's throats. Tolerance is a two way street. The students who don't agree with homosexuality have the right to their opinion, they just don't have the right to make someone miserable because of it. These girls have the right to believe it's wrong to hate someone for being gay, but they don't have the right to antagonize those students for their bigotry.
My opinion sounds hypocritical even to myself, but I honestly can't see what other choice the school really has. It's not right, and it's not fair, that these girls are essentially being punished for their sexuality. Thinking about it, though, it reminds me of a fairly effective punishment I use with my kids. If they're fighting over a toy, and won't play nicely, then I take the toy away from both of them, no matter who had it first. Whoever snatched it needs to learn that you can't just take things, and whoever had it first needs to learn that fighting over it is not the right way to get it back.
Of course, as the parent, once they're over their fit, I try to suggest how they could have dealt with sharing the toy better. This is where the school may be lacking. They need to help these kids find compromise. Help the girls create a student group for gay and lesbian students. Have them work with the guidance office, so that homosexual students would have someone to turn to when being harassed. Work with them and support efforts to teach tolerance and end harassment. It'll take time, but eventually the school won't have to take the toys away anymore.
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