Talk about throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
School board members in Franklin County, Tennessee are considering doing away with all student groups as a means to disband the recently-formed Gay-Straight Alliance.
Let that sink in a moment.
The GSA at Franklin County High School in Winchester has been met with nothing but trouble since it first met in January, from parents comparing it to ISIS (really) to students defacing club posters and wearing “straight pride” signs in protest.
How about we take this to the next level?
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Related: TN High School: Pro-GSA T-Shirts? OK, Fine. An Actual GSA? Haha, No.
At a recent school board meeting, concerned community members fell back on the tried-and-true boogeyman warning that the GSA promotes a “radical gay political agenda” that seeks to recruit children. The sad thing is that to these people, encouraging students to find common ground and appreciate one another’s unique experiences really is “radical.”
Thanks to the federal Equal Access Act, school officials cannot shutter the group.
Unless, of course, they ban every extracurricular group, from the Fellowship of Christian Athletes to the Student Council.
And while that may sound like an extreme measure, don’t put it past the uninformed buffoons in Franklin County.
Related: Crowd Gathers To Support 14-Year Old Trying To Start GSA
In an interview with The New Civil Rights Movement, board Chairman Kevin Caroland confirmed the strategy has been discussed.
“We discussed last night our policies and procedures and the possibility of getting rid of all clubs, and what all that would entail. There was not a consensus. that I could tell,” Caroland said. “We had a large number of emails that have asked us to look at that.”
The GSA put out this note on Facebook to rally support:
At that meeting, opponents of the GSA waved Christian flags and warned about the dangers of “fisting, rimming and anal sex.”
“We’re trying to spell out for the community what would happen if we shut down all clubs,” Caroland added. “I think the community needs to be educated on what the consequences are of doing that. We’re just trying to get it all laid out so nobody’s surprised by anything.”
The lesson these adults are teaching the students of Franklin County High is absolutely unconscionable. We’ll follow the outcome and keep you updated.
Victor Barry
Cutting off one nose to spit one’s face – stupid people.
AtticusBennett
this is why so many young LGBT people flee from backwater podunk places like this.
“WHAT!? a group that seeks to unite straight and LGBT students to support one another?!?!? NOOOO!”
trash. plain and simple. bigoted trash.
Michael Perry
I weep for the future……
John Malin
It’s Tennessee, what the hell do you expect? Common sense?
Daniel Buckner
That’s insane!
Robert Zakem
I’m telling you, goose-stepping lessons will be next. And the Republicans have the audacity to say this country is headed in the wrong direction. These are kids just trying to do the right thing (dare I say the Christian thing) and they’re being compared to ISIL? And a group whose mission is to promote understanding and tolerance is accused of promoting sex acts? What is wrong with these people? Is their heart so filled with hate?
Gio Ortiz
Closed minded idiots!
Bill Mountrey
Ban School Administrators!!
redcarpet30
Provincial shit stains. And they wonder why the rest of the world thinks Tennessee is a backwater pit of ignorance.
1EqualityUSA
gay-straight alliances have been happening ever since the first school was formed, we just never had a name for it. This is bigotry released into the community and the fear or knowledge deficit is giving wings to it. Next will be segregation?
1EqualityUSA
Robert Zakem, They want to silence this population, stripping away authentic humanity. They’re awful.
GC1985
Funny religious zealots talk more about fisting and anal sex than gay people. Trying to tell us something?
Where is joeyty to defend the zealots as he always does?
Scott McIntosh
Don’t post this sort of stuff on Facebook – the rest of the world will then see it and believe that the USA is quite mad!
RIck Dean
These people are so preoccupied with gay people and what they do. They’re more concerned than the gay people are. Smacks of protesting too much.
GG
“At that meeting, opponents of the GSA waved Christian flags and warned about the dangers of ‘fisting, rimming and anal sex.’”
Because heterosexuals never, ever do these sorts of things, right?
And about the flags, I suggest the GSA members tell the protesters that they, themselves, are christian too, and then thank the flag bearers for their support.
Dakotahgeo
I believe this has already gone to Court in two other instances around the USA. Result: Unconstitutional. Now with an equally divided SCOTUS, any lawsuit sent to them with be returned to the lower Courts ruling. Double happy times for the students!
Jesse Erickson
That’s like trimming a bonsai tree with a scythe.
Manknee Aeizona
Derek Perron
Then the rest will know what it feels like to not have something
Will Glitzern
It’s really an incredibly mean thing to do, but especially for the gay kids.
Dirtybird_Mary
We had GSA clubs at my high school in the 1990’s! – I didn’t think being this far along in the supposed ‘information age’ that people (or groups of people) still held & perpetuated such erroneous beliefs! (Like the club being of course, some kind of covert recruitment for Satan’s pink team) … It’s astounding.
Ignorance, religion, & residing in places like Tennessee are a deadly combo.
rand503
Yeah, like 50 years ago, when certain towns in Virginia decided to shut down schools for all children rather than have to offer equal education to blacks.
Well, not really , the white kids got shipped to other towns, while the black kids got nuthin’. Damn imbeciles think they can still do that.
avesraggiana
“Fisting, rimming and anal sex”
Hmmmm….from what my heterosexual friends tell me, that’s what goes on in more extreme straight porn sex videos in the context of humiliation and degradation of women too.
What’s the big deal to these neanderthals?
girldownunder
I’ll say it again– it sure seems that “supposed” straight people think (fantasize) a whole lot more about gay sex than anyone else!
Hmmmm?
Douglas Schlitz
What a bunch of ignorant ass hats !
Transiteer
The kids already appear so much smarter than the stupid adults in charge.
Kevin J Desmond
I think it’s fair … if you ban one group then you need to ban all groups. What makes people think one group is better than the others and vise versa.
Kris Barton
seriously, close down everyone because you need to beat on the gay kids and their friends?
Neal Stotts
Good thinking. That’ll larn’em!=
Alex Rothwell
Sounds like versions of what authorities in local government did back in school desegregation times in the 50’s and 60’s. They shut schools for everyone so Black Students would not be able to attend / integrate White Schools. Of course some White Children were left out too. Although some Whites did attend private schools. In Richmond VA, this went on for two years until the Supreme Court ruled against. Anyhow, these people are waisting their time and are going to be proven wrong in the end.
Daniel-Reader
Unfortunately the KKK has never gone away. It’s the speciously named “religious liberty” brigade these days.
DCguy
And again, here is the right wing viewpoint. In their opinion it is always better to harm others than help them.
If they can hurt 3 or 4 gay kids, then it is worth also hurting 1000 other kids too.
1EqualityUSA
Save the whales.
Bauhaus
Bad-tempered, spoiled, selfish children pull stunts like this all of the time. They’ll break a toy into a million pieces rather than share it.
Billysees
@Robert Zakem:
” These are kids just trying to do the right thing (dare I say the Christian thing)… And a group whose mission is to promote understanding and tolerance is accused of promoting sex acts? What is wrong with these people? Is their heart so filled with hate? ”
Excellent comment, especially ‘What is wrong with these people?’.
Good question. It’s amazing that nearly anything ‘about LGBTs’ should cause so many to push-the-panic-button.
Chuck
I have to give these high school students a BIG thumbs up. They are trying to end the hated. Now they have to deal with these “HATE GROUPS”, and the ignorant ass school board.
If the school board wants to ban all of the school groups. I hope they have a shit load of extra money to cover all of the lawsuits. I would urge every student, straight, gay, etc to file a federal lawsuit. If they want to act like ignorant idiots. It will cost the school board a small fortune.