Anti-Gay Parent Attacks California School Board for Addressing Bullying

Fighting school bullying should be everyone's business, whether that bullying is based on gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, or more. And that's exactly what the Vallejo Unified School District in California was trying to do, by expanding their anti-bullying curriculum to include a video entitled "Let's Get Real," which deals with racial differences, perceived sexual orientation, disabilities, religious differences, sexual harassment and more inside America's schools.

Sounds reasonable, right? After all, the video has won multiple awards from entities like the American Library Association, the Parents' Choice Foundation, the International Family Film Festival, and more.

But some parents in the school district have blown a gasket that the video was shown in the classroom, going so far as to attack the school board for endorsing homosexuality. They're now urging the school board to abandon the video as part of the district's anti-bullying curriculum, and to silence any mention of anti-gay bullying. They don't want their kids being told that LGBT students exist, let alone that they deserve a safe space to learn.

Will the Vallejo Unified School District listen to these parents, or will they stay strong and recognize the overwhelming evidence out there that depicts epidemic levels of anti-gay bullying in America's classrooms? Help encourage the school board to make the right decision, by letting them know that anti-bullying programs need to focus on the bullying of LGBT students, or those perceived to be LGBT.

One mother in the district, Helenmarie Gordon, told a local CBS station that she felt her parental rights were violated by the district's decision to show "Let's Get Real."

"I am the parent of my child, not the district," she said, adding that she wants to have the right to opt her child out of any anti-bullying program that includes a focus on LGBT issues or the bullying of LGBT students. For her, such curriculum promotes an unhealthy lifestyle that she doesn't want her child exposed to.

Incidentally, the reason that the Vallejo Unified School District added the "Let's Get Real" video to their anti-bullying program stems from a complaint by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) last year. In that complaint, the ACLU alleged that one lesbian student in the district, Rochelle Hamilton, faced rampant anti-gay bullying and harassment, and that administrators did very little to help curb it.

"All I ever wanted was to be able to go to school and just be myself. But I couldn't do that when the people I was supposed to be learning from were judging me and telling me something was wrong with me. How was I supposed to learn when I was constantly scared?" said Hamilton at the time.

And the level of anti-gay discrimination that Hamilton faced in the district was pretty vile. It included being required to attend a weekly meeting where guidance counselors would berate LGBT students and tell them that if they didn't change their sexual orientation or gender identity, they would never get a job or have a happy life. Hamilton was also denied access to the girls' locker room, was told by her teachers in front of class that something was wrong with her, and was told by another teacher that being was "ungodly."

Yeah, so it's a safe bet that the district needed to do something to address the toxic climate for LGBT students. Showing "Let's Get Real" is the least of what the district should do, especially in the wake of such damning evidence that anti-gay harassment is alive and well.

The district is set to reconvene in mid-November to debate whether "Let's Get Real" stays as part of the anti-bullying curriculum. Urge them to keep it, and urge them to continue to address anti-gay harassment wherever it happens and in whatever form it happens.

As for this homophobic parent? Let's call a spade a spade: no parenting rights were violated here. It's the job of our public schools, under federal law no less, to keep kids safe. This isn't about endorsing homosexuality in the least; it's about taking a stand whenever a student is thrown into a locker, called "ungodly" by classmates or teachers, or berated for who they are.

One would think all parents would be down with curbing violence and harassment in schools, instead of taking an anti-bullying program and politicizing it for a religious agenda.

Photo credit: PicklesAddie