Long Island Principal Blocks Gay-Straight Alliance, Says Gay Slurs Aren't Really that Offensive

by Michael Jones · 2011-01-20 06:20:00 UTC
Topics:

UPDATE: We're still awaiting confirmation from students, but the Long Island Herald is now reporting that the Superintendent of the district has overturned the principal's decision to bar the gay-straight alliance, and is prepared to let the club start today. Story here, and more to come...

UPDATE 2: As of 7:00pm EST, students have still not heard officially from school administrators that the gay-straight alliance has been approved, despite media reports to the contrary. We'll continue to update the post as we get more information.

A principal at a Long Island high school has blocked a group of LGBT and straight students from forming a gay-straight alliance at Valley Stream South High School. The principal, Maureen Henry, denied the request after three students -- with the support of several hundred of their classmates -- submitted a proposal to form an official school club. The students had been working on the proposal since October, and tell the Long Island Herald that they followed all proper protocols and procedures.

Still, Principal Henry denied their request. And here's an added insult to injury: when the students told Principal Henry about rampant anti-gay slurs, including use of the word "faggot" in the school, the Principal said it wasn't that big of a deal.

"Principal Henry told the students that she too called people 'faggots' when she was young and didn’t mean anything bad by it," says a press release from LIGALY, the Long Island Gay and Lesbian Youth organization.

Right, because "Faggot" is such a positive, uplifting term of endearment.

The students involved in trying to organize the club have taken their case to the Superintendent of the School District, Dr. Richard Marsh, in hopes that administrators can step in and assist both LGBT and straight students looking to create some safe spaces within Valley Stream South High School.

"We did everything right," said Kelly Egan, one of the students trying to start the club. "I don’t see why you wouldn’t want to promote tolerance and safety.” Egan went on to note that another high school in the district -- North High School -- has a gay-straight alliance.

LIGALY is not taking this quietly. They've planned a demonstration in front of the school this afternoon, with their leadership saying that Principal Henry is essentially bullying her students by shutting down any possibility of a gay-straight alliance.

“The core issue, in my opinion, is the barriers the principal is putting up in front of them," said Robert Vitelli, a 1992 graduate of Valley Stream South High School and director of development at LIGALY.

Unnecessary barriers, if you ask us. How about sending Principal Henry, as well as Superintendent Marsh, a message that blocking your students from forming gay-straight alliances is irresponsible behavior from educators that are supposed to look out for the welfare of all of their students. Moreover, for Principal Henry to suggest that calling people "faggots" is no big deal shows exactly why a gay-straight alliance is needed in a place like Valley Stream South High School.

Photo credit: http://vschsd.org

Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.

RELATED PETITION

Tell Valley Stream South High School: Allow Gay-Straight Alliance for Students
SIGN PETITION
1,576 People
PREVIOUS STORY:
Ohio State University: Where Student Clubs Can Kick Gay People Out?
NEXT STORY:
Bullied high schooler convinces MPAA to change ‘Bully’ rating to “PG-13”

COMMENTS (40)

    Comment Policy

    · All fields are required to comment.

    [X]

    Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the campaign on Change.org. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments which, as determined solely in our discretion: (1) are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; (2) include content solely intended to personally attack the campaign creator, (3) are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them; and/or (4) violate our terms of service and/or privacy policy. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion. Please also be advised that: (A) we do not actively curate and/or monitor in any manner whatsoever the comments made on the Change.org platform, and (B) the creator of each campaign on Change.org may remove any comment at her/his/its discretion.