(The Progressive)
The Salt Lake City school board isn't discriminating against lesbian
and gay teens. It tried to, but couldn't get around the Federal Equal
Access Act, which obliges schools to treat all non-academic student
clubs equally. So the school board eliminated extracurricular organizations
altogether.
Now students at Salt Lake City's East High School are blaming the
kids who belonged to a group called the Gay-Straight Alliance. "Everyone
suffers because of the gays," Brett Shields, a red-blooded member
of the school's Beef Club, told The New York Times. Other students
have started a group called SAFE: Students Against Faggots at East.
But it seems a gay-straight alliance is happening among Salt Lake
City high-school students whether the school board wants it or not.
Hundreds of marchers joined a February 23 protest at the Utah State
Capitol to object to the ban. On the day of the march, the Utah Senate
passed a bill prohibiting teachers from condoning "illegal conduct"
--a ploy to discourage teacher supervision of gay and lesbian clubs.
Many school boards and local governments across the country are considering
similar bans.
"There's been a dramatic rise in targeting classrooms," says Denny
Lee, spokesperson for the American Civil Liberties Union's Lesbian
and Gay Rights Project. "It has coincided with the rise of the radical
right. It's been on their agenda to put gays and lesbians back in
the closet. They realized that in some classrooms students are being
taught that being gay is not the most horrible thing in the world,
and they were horrified by that."
This isn't the first time the state of Utah has set a national precedent
in its treatment of gay and lesbian citizens. Last year, the state
enacted a law that nullifies same-sex marriage--just in case it were
ever legalized.
Early this year, ten states introduced legislation to outlaw gay marriage
before any state declares it legal. This brings the total number of
states considering such preemptive legislation to eighteen.
"Many states do not have gendered language in their marriage statutes,
" Wisconsin State Representative Tammy Baldwin points out. "So now
they are attempting to add this
sort of language to existing law."
Baldwin says targeting gay marriage is a move to garner electoral
support. "By and large, the efforts have been aimed at bolstering
the membership and coffers of the religious right," she says. "The
intent primarily is to use the bills electorally, rather than making
them a part of their substantive platform." Indeed, the bills piled
up until the Iowa Caucuses. Just before the vote, a blaring anti-gay
rally was held at the First Federated Church of Des Moines. All Republican
candidates but Richard Lugar endorsed the event.
The pressure from the right is having an effect.
In November, Cable News Network and many other cable stations rejected
two ads sponsored by Parents, Friends, and Family of Lesbians and
Gays when the Christian Broadcasting Network threatened to sue. One
of the ads sets film clips of Pat Robertson saying, "Homosexuality
is an abomination," and Jerry Falwell announcing, "God hates homosexuals,
" side by side with footage of a young girl searching frantically
for a gun. As a result of the threatened suit, most Americans won'
t hear the message at the end of the ad: "It is estimated that 30
percent of teen-age suicide victims are gay or lesbian."
Today, gays and lesbians around the country have fewer safe spaces
in which to shelter themselves against groups like the Christian Coalition
and its offspring, Students Against Faggots at East. The backlash
is already stinging.
Author not available, The backlash
stings.(discrimination against gays and lesbians). Vol. 60, The Progressive,
04-01-1996, pp 10(1).