Anti-Gay hatred rampant in Florida High School

By Sweet Pea and Rachel

This one is a little weird, but not unexpected, but you might want to brace yourself anyhow. The Ponce de Leon High School in the Florida panhandle has decided that it would be a really cool idea to ban symbols and speech which might prove supportive of GLBT rights. No, I am not kidding. After lesbian student was harassed the demented school board not only refused to help the abused student; the board went so far as to side with the attackers by banning Gay symbols and speech which might be deemed as supportive of the GLBT community. The end result is an atmosphere of fear and censorship in which homophobic students will be encouraged to act out against gay students or against those who are supportive of equal rights for the GLBT community. Moreover the board has created an atmosphere within an institution of learning in which the free exchange of ideas has been successfully stifled. Not exactly something one thinks about when he or she hears the term education.

And what was the board’s excuse? Initially it stated that it felt that the use of symbols such as rainbow flags or even shoes or T shirts emblazoned with expressions of support for the gay community might prove “disrupptive.” But then the board and its attorney went so far as to suggest that such symbols might promote “illegal organizations.” A ridicules suggestion if ever there were one. Why it’s enough to make one ask the obvious question: since when did harassment on the behalf of homophobic students become legal while supporting that student can be construed as promoting “an illegal organization.” It seems to me that the real crimes here are being comitted by the board and its attorney who are in effect aiding the free low of hate speech while putting a damper on free speech and freedom of expression.

Supposedly students have the right to freedom of speech while at school, but Supreme Court rulings have determined that freedom of speech can be set aside when that speech might prove disruptive to the educational mission of the school. In this case it appears as if the board has not only used this Supreme Court provision for squelching freedom of speech: it has abused the provision; it has turned the whole idea on its head. It has effectively decided that harassment and disruptive behavior on the part of homophobic students is the equivalent of education, while allowing debate and the free exchange of ideas in an educational setting are disruptive. Given this kind of cuckoo reasoning one could easily declare forensics and debating disruptive while allowing the verbal abuse of all students to pass as a part of the curriculum.

Someone really needs to tell the board at this school that one of the primary purposes of education is–you guessed it–the free and unhindered flow of conflicting ideas. Maybe they heard of it. It’s called the “free market place of ideas?”

Footnote: The ACLU is suing Ponce de Leon High School in Florida for banning such things as gay-friendly rainbow stickers and claiming they “likely would be disruptive” and would suggest students were part of a “secret/illegal organization.” From Alternet~Dusty