Principal Resigns over Gay/Straight Alliance Club
Here's the story...http://www.wistv.com/global/story.asp?s=8356379
Here's the district...
http://www.lex5.k12.sc.us/
Here's what I have to say...
When you know the person involved, it's hard to just write something off as bigotry. See, Mr. Walker was my first principal as a professional teacher and I will say that if you told me to make a list of bigotted people, his name wouldn't appear on it. He treats people fairly...How does that mesh with this news? Well, he's not turning tail on a school and district with a gay/straight alliance club. He's fulfilling his contract and when the contract is up, he'll walk away. He says he was planning on sticking with Irmo High until 2010 and he's moved it one year earlier because he doesn't agree. He's damned if he does and he's damned if he doesn't. If he quits, he's a bigot. If he doesn't, he's not standing up for what he believes in and he wouldn't have to put up with people criticizing him, but he has to live with himself. He's a principal who wouldn't allow students to say "fuck you" to a teacher, but was understanding that some students don't come from a picket fence household. He's a good man, and he was a great principal. I may not agree with him, but I respect him.
But let's talk about whether or not I agree with him and let's leave the gay aspect out. I'm not sure I do disagree with his decision, though I suspect I do. I would need to know what the teacher sponsor of this club intended the purpose of the club to be. I'd also have to know what other clubs exist (I would say at the school, but if we have to talk about clubs in the whole district, fine). There are other clubs than curricular clubs, but I can only think of service clubs like Key Club or sports clubs. The reason I need to know about the clubs purpose is because if the club is just meant for socialization. Like minded people coming together to talk, and there are no other clubs that fit that one description, then I can see his point, even if he adds a sexual element that doesn't inherently exist. If there are political and/or religious groups that get together as a school club simply to discuss their views, then I agree that the gay/straight alliance club should be allowed. But if the clubs all have been academic, service, or sport related, then I see Mr. Walker's point. I want to hear what the teacher sponsor says is the purpose of the club.
My friend Mrs. Chili sponsors a gay/straight alliance club at her college, and I am curious about her point of view. I'm still trying to figure out my POV, myself.
posted by Bodog @ 9:57 PM
11 Comments:
Sorry, Bodog - Mr. Walker is a bigot.
I started a GSA at TCC, and I can tell you without ANY hesitation that we have never - EVER - talked about sex. There has literally NEVER been any mention of ANY sexual activity, or of the intentions of any of the members to HAVE sex - that's not the point of the club, and Mr. Walker is either showing his bias or his ignorance with this statement:
The formation of this club conflicts with my professional beliefs in that we do not have other clubs at Irmo High school based on sexual orientation, sexual preference, or sexual activity. In fact our sex education curriculum is abstinence based. I feel the formation of a Gay/Straight Alliance Club at Irmo High school implies that students joining the club will have chosen to or will choose to engage in sexual activity with members of the same sex, opposite sex, or members of both sexes.
The point of a GSA is to get queer and straight kids together for the purposes of combating just the kind of prejudice Mr. Walker is exhibiting. For him to make the blanket (and entirely erroneous) assumption that the purpose of the club is to promote deviant sex (sorry - he didn't say that, but that's the message I'm getting from his comments, and I'm angry) is just wrong.
I don't know exactly how other GSAs run, but I can tell you for sure that the mission statement of the organization is to promote acceptance and understanding between the queer and straight communities. The purpose is to create a safe place where gay and straight kids can get together to talk out issues that affect them and to learn more about each other in the hopes of averting the kinds bigotry and ignorance that leads to some of the terrible violence that queer kids are often subject to in school environments. Remember Lawrence King in California?
TCC's club talks about how queer people are depicted in the media, how language can be used to harm and to help, and how to find ways to be more inclusive of ALL people (gender, ethnicity, religion, etc) on campus. We get different kids in the club every time we meet, and each of them brings to the experience something about the intersection between gay and straight that's important to them. NEVER has what's important to them been about the sex.
Go here ( http://www.glsen.org/cgi-bin/iowa/all/home/index.html ) for the GLSEN website (they're the people who sponsor and support GSA clubs in high school) and here (http://www.rememberinglawrence.org/) for Lawrence King's story.
I'm getting ready to blog about this over on ThriftyMom, but I will briefly say that i think Eddie is just misguided.
Misguided by his xtian religion and basing his professional life on it.
BUT THAT IS HIS RIGHT.
Now, if he was trying to get the club banned ...
Oh, I have ABSOLUTELY NO problem with his resigning over this - please forgive me if I gave the impression that I did. He is absolutely within his rights to leave over the club. I don't think he should waste his time telling us that he's not biased or homophobic, though. Clearly, given his own statement, those labels apply.
I would be raising a hell of a stink if he were campaigning to get the club banned. He's not doing that, though, and I respect his personal need to not be associated with the group. I think, given the circumstances, he's behaving in as professional way as possible. I also think he's entirely misguided.
I consider a bigot to be a person with hatred in his decisions and actions. Yes, he's biased. But he is not a person of hatred.
There are Young Republicans clubs in the district (I was mostly certain there were) and as such, clubs where the principle behind coming together is to discuss matters of interest and to support each other should all be allowed...
There's been a lot of chatter about this and one of the things his supporters say is that next we'd have to allow clubs associated with hate groups like the KKK....But that doesn't fly because there are laws against hate crimes and because getting together to talk about hatred WOULD disrupt school, while talking about getting along, about peace, would not disrupt school save for the reactions of others.
The dictionary definition of bigot is "a person who is utterly intolerant of any differing creed, belief, or opinion." It's pretty plain from his decision to leave his job rather than share a school with a GSA that Mr. Walker's intolerance runs pretty deep.
We can quibble about the connotations of the words, but the fact remains that Mr. Walker is biased - for whatever his reasons are - against this club and what it represents. I work hard in my environment to work against such bias - I believe it is the root of all the evils that are visited upon the "other," whomever that other happens to be.
Mr. Walker may be a perfectly lovely person in all other respects, but the letter he wrote tells me that he is small-minded. While I'd certainly rather he leave his job than campaign against the GSA (or promote more dis-ease between the gay and straight communities in the school), I still fault him for not being (hu)man enough to find out what this is all about before he tenders his resignation in protest.
As a gay man this kind of thing hits close to home.
When I was in high school there was no such thing as a GSA.
I think they are wonderful and very much needed.
We all know gays are an oppressed community. We also know oppressed members of society suffer more of the "ills" of life (mental instability, illness, self esteem, suicide, self destructivness, etc).
Most straight folks can't realize the daily innundation of negativeness we gay folks endure (tv, radio, billboards, newspapers, etc).
A GSA is a out stretched hand of love and understanding. An oasis in a desert of hate and indifference.
GSA's are about sexuality, NOT SEX!
I feel Mr. Walker is honorable by stepping down. As I've heard said, when your beliefs conflict with your job it's time to change jobs!
It's a shame his religious beliefs have caused him to shut out fellow human beings. It's even more sad because I would think he chose an educational career because he wanted to help children.
Obviously Mr. Walker beleives sexuality is a choice. But I imagine he would deny he chose his!
The root of the evil is not individuals but the indoctrination by a religion. These people are forcefed the dogma from birth and really really really believe that people choose to be gay and that a fertilised ovum is a human being.
Until we overcome that credulousness, no progress can be made.
Let's drop the semantic arguement about the term "bigot" since different dictionaries have different definitions, and connotations that a word carries are subjective. We can both agree that Mr. Walker is biased.
Tom, thanks for chiming in. My question about the purpose of the club was just for comparison to other clubs. I personally think that saying a GSA encourages sexuality and not allowing one based on those reasons means we should also cancel proms because encouraging heterosexual couples to spend noncurricular time together, dressing up, dancing, staying out late, would also be seen as encouraging sexuality. I agree that homosexual men and women can be in the same room with other homosexuals without sex being the central topic.
Since Mr. Walker intends to remain next year to fulfill his contract, I would hope he would attend some meetings for enlightenment purposes...or even to "keep an eye on" it and gain enlightenment...but I can't think of that as a good possibility.
This really is a fascinating can of worms, BoDog. Thanks for bringing it up - I always enjoy the opportunity to think about this stuff with level-headed people (that'd be you and Blue, in case you were wondering...)
Love you both!
Chili
Thanks for the welcoming words Bodog.
I think your last paragraph is a wonderful sentiment and agree.
You know, in the article it mentioned "he was advised by email he had to allow the club" (or something pretty close to that). So I have to think he might of had an ongoing email conversation hoping to stop the formation of the club. After receiving the bad news he didn't fuss and kick and fight (like many would).
He seems honorable ie: finishing his contract and then stepping down. Quietly, honorably and with pride he will simply step aside.
Which would seem to suggest he isn't totally repulsed (ie: he didn't immediately abandon his post).
So I think there is hope.
Oh, as a side note, even though chili doesn't place me on the level-headed list I'm not that bad (chuckle).
In case anyone is interested, now the school board is going to vote on banning ALL student clubs/organizations, due to this.
Some are even trying to blame the principle.
Here's the article I saw:
http://www.washblade.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=19154
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