Utah gay-straight alliances targeted in revised bill
In Utah, a bill is making its way to the Senate that could prevent students from forming gay-straight alliances in schools under the idea that these groups threaten the so-called "moral well-being" of students and faculty.
For those who don't know what a Gay-Straight Alliance is, they are clubs that promote equality and form as a means of activism, social activity or student-lead guidance, in (despite what Senator Scott McCoy would say) a completely non-sexual environment. Those who oppose GSA's make the argument that they are "tools for recruiting homosexuality" and are "tearing down the moral pillars of society".
You can read the article here.
This issue begs the question; does the government have the right to impose morals upon educational student initiated groups? Furthermore, would denying students the right to form GSA's be discrimination against homosexual teens?
For those who don't know what a Gay-Straight Alliance is, they are clubs that promote equality and form as a means of activism, social activity or student-lead guidance, in (despite what Senator Scott McCoy would say) a completely non-sexual environment. Those who oppose GSA's make the argument that they are "tools for recruiting homosexuality" and are "tearing down the moral pillars of society".
You can read the article here.
This issue begs the question; does the government have the right to impose morals upon educational student initiated groups? Furthermore, would denying students the right to form GSA's be discrimination against homosexual teens?
posted by phs_sociology at 8:23 PM
6 Comments:
As long as a group has an adviser to oversee meetings and they make sure the meetings are kept school appropriate, the group should be able to be formed. We recently saw this debate at our school earlier in the year. It has now seem to died down and I'm pretty sure the group was forced to stop meeting, but in my opinion, they were doing nothing wrong.
The same issue can be addressed with religious groups. As long as the meetings are kept within the rules, it is perfectly fine. There is no difference in these two situations. You could argue morals against either.
Denying students the right to GSA is discrimination at all levels. People are just looking for ways to attack homosexuals because of their personal opinions. I'm sure our congressmen have much larger problems to worry about. Why not address these issues first?
As the leader of Perry's GSA, I can tell you that the group wasn;t forced to stop meeting, we just weren't allowed to be an official school club. I'm pretty sure Mr. Gregoire is okay with us being an official club though.
Anyway, I don't think the government has the right to pass laws enforced by someone else's morality. It's essentially the same reason why Harry Potter hasn't been banned in school libraries by the insane Religious Right - not all people think Harry Potter is evil.
Denying gay teens (and their straight allies) the right to form a club to stop hatred is simple discrimination; discrimination that Mr. Dean enforced.
No the government should not be allowed to impose morals on high school students. They should be allowed to have school appropriate meetings. We are allowed to have church clubs and others, then why would they try and stop them from having the alliance. Yes this is discriminating against kids, they have the choice if they want to be gay or straight and no one should be able to tell them they are wrong for being that way. If they stop the Gay-Straight Alliance then would have to stop some of the other groups or clubs that students come up with. The Gay-Straight Alliance should show that kids are being judgmental about peoples choices about their own life. It is becoming a every day thing and no should be discriminated against for anything.
The government does not have the right to impose morals upon educational student initiated groups. As long as there is an advisor making sure things said are school appropriate, I see no reason why a club cannot be formed. By denying students the right to form GSA’s, it is discrimination against homosexual teens. We allow religious clubs and the government doesn’t have a problem with that. It is like the government wants to change homosexual teens sexuality by denying the right for this group. By denying this club to be formed, they themselves are in denial. Homosexuals aren’t going to die out & will now stand up even more for themselves since the government will not. I don’t think the government has the right to do this at all.
I agree with most everyone's response to this article. I do think students should be able to form GSA clubs/meetings. There's so many kids out there who are not accepted and do need support in helping to feel proud of who they are. We're allowed to have Christian club meetings, I don't think it's fair to deny any students the right to hold other meetings as long as there was an advisor.
I think that the government does have the right to impose morals upon educational student initiated groups. I don't know if it's discrimination or not. The schools should have the right to choose weither or not to have the club. I think it is morally wrong and I think that the bill should pass.
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