One Town's War on Gay Teens

HomerJS

Lifer
Feb 6, 2002
35,957
27,638
136
In Michele Bachmann's home district, evangelicals have created an extreme anti-gay climate. After a rash of suicides, the kids are fighting back.

I was going to post this a few days ago. Forgot but the constant drumbeat of conservative phony proclimations of "Obama's War on Religion" reminded me of a real war being waged by conservatives on gay people in this country.

Every morning, Brittany Geldert stepped off the bus and bolted through the double doors of Fred Moore Middle School, her nerves already on high alert, bracing for the inevitable.

"***."

Pretending not to hear, Brittany would walk briskly to her locker, past the sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders who loitered in menacing packs.

"Whore."

Like many 13-year-olds, Brittany knew seventh grade was a living hell. But what she didn't know was that she was caught in the crossfire of a culture war being waged by local evangelicals inspired by their high-profile congressional representative Michele Bachmann, who graduated from Anoka High School and, until recently, was a member of one of the most conservative churches in the area. When Christian activists who considered gays an abomination forced a measure through the school board forbidding the discussion of homosexuality in the district's public schools, kids like Brittany were unknowingly thrust into the heart of a clash that was about to become intertwined with tragedy.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/one-towns-war-on-gay-teens-20120202
 

monovillage

Diamond Member
Jul 3, 2008
8,444
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this is a state issue dont bring the fed into it.

It's a school issue, what the hell are the teachers and administrators doing by allowing any type of persecution to happen in their damn school. The shouldn't be an administrator with a job in that school and probably most of the teachers. They should be fired for cause and get some adults in there that put a stop to that bullshit.
 

RocksteadyDotNet

Diamond Member
Jul 29, 2008
3,152
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Only in America.

Or maybe Saudi Arabia or Afganistan.

Good company you're keeping.
 
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SilthDraeth

Platinum Member
Oct 28, 2003
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It's a school issue, what the hell are the teachers and administrators doing by allowing any type of persecution to happen in their damn school. The shouldn't be an administrator with a job in that school and probably most of the teachers. They should be fired for cause and get some adults in there that put a stop to that bullshit.

This.

Though I believe it has moved beyond local, obviously, the local populace is allowing this to happen, and local government.
 

cubby1223

Lifer
May 24, 2004
13,518
42
86
Yeah, so it is difficult to determine if the author is more inspired to help the gay teens, or to insult Rep. Bachmann. If this exact same situation were in a different location in the U.S., it would not have been written into a Rolling Stone article.

This news story should be powerful enough to stand on its own merits.
 

cubby1223

Lifer
May 24, 2004
13,518
42
86
It's a school issue, what the hell are the teachers and administrators doing by allowing any type of persecution to happen in their damn school. The shouldn't be an administrator with a job in that school and probably most of the teachers. They should be fired for cause and get some adults in there that put a stop to that bullshit.

Thanks to all the lawsuit-happy parents and activist groups around, sadly it is often easier for a teacher to look the other way. It is a calculated career risk either way.
 

davmat787

Diamond Member
Nov 30, 2010
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RocksteadyDotNet

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Jul 29, 2008
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Ancalagon44

Diamond Member
Feb 17, 2010
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Nothing quite as judgmental as a fundamentalist Christian.

Forget judge not lest ye be judged, and let he who is without sin throw the first stone.
 

davmat787

Diamond Member
Nov 30, 2010
5,513
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Every country has its problems.

But you guys are in a different league when it comes to this shit.

Are you suggesting the US is in the same league as Afghanistan or Saudi Arabia?

Not sure how much, if any, time you have spent in the US but due to the nature of our system you can't use one incident as a broad brush to paint the rest of the country.
 

tweaker2

Lifer
Aug 5, 2000
14,475
6,896
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Nothing quite as judgmental as a fundamentalist Christian.

Forget judge not lest ye be judged, and let he who is without sin throw the first stone.

And nothing like fear mongering to unite them in their holy crusade to reform our nation in their image. A tactic that the fundamentalists have used/are using since Christianity was formed.

The witch hunts of ye old days are alive and well in the USA. Funny how in their quest to seek relief from religious persecution, so many nationalities settled in North America to find it. And now their decendants have become the very persecutors their forebearers came here to get away from.
 
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davmat787

Diamond Member
Nov 30, 2010
5,513
24
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And nothing like fear mongering to unite them in their holy crusade to reform our nation in their image. A tactic that the fundamentalists have used/are using since Christianity was formed.

The witch hunts of ye old days are alive and well in the USA. Funny how in their quest to seek relief from religious persecution, so many nationalities settled in North America to find it. And now their decendants have become the very persecutors their forebearers came here to get away from.

But they have god on their side, so you might want to start boning up on those scripture thingies.
 

DrPizza

Administrator Elite Member Goat Whisperer
Mar 5, 2001
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Thanks to all the lawsuit-happy parents and activist groups around, sadly it is often easier for a teacher to look the other way. It is a calculated career risk either way.

I've taken courses in educational law, and I follow court decisions affecting teachers very closely. Just from what I read in the OP - if the girl is reporting it to the teachers and they're doing nothing, the lawsuit against the school would very easily win. There have been cases where student A is picked on by student B, then the teacher stops it. Then picked on a day later by student C, then the teacher stops it. Then picked on by student D, then the teacher stops it... There's a pattern of bullying and the school did nothing to prevent it. Finally, the umpteenth student bullied student A and that umpteenth student was given a warning because she had never done anything wrong. Student A's family sued, pointed out the pattern & that the school had done nothing to stop it, won big money.
 

DirkGently1

Senior member
Mar 31, 2011
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13 and 14 year old going around saying that they are gay?? WTF? How the hell have they made that decision and what the fuck are their parents doing about it?
 

K1052

Elite Member
Aug 21, 2003
45,884
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13 and 14 year old going around saying that they are gay?? WTF? How the hell have they made that decision and what the fuck are their parents doing about it?

Kids usually know around that age or even earlier.

If you read the article you would see it's not even all about kids who publicly self identify as gay...it's also about kids who other kids merely perceive as gay but who are actually straight.