I read that story. It has been in and out of the news for a long time here. I get really sickened when I hear people on the news saying they do not want homosexuality and morality discussed in school or normalized. Sorry but when there are kids using words like "faggot" and kids are being made fun of for their sexual orientation, hit over the head with books and urinated on--the kids bullying make it an issue. Raise your child to be a kind human being who treats others with respect and it would not be an issue and everyone could go on their merry way. 

The stupid policies they are fighting over are ludicrous. The first one required teachers to remain neutral over issues of homosexuality which made teachers think they would get fired if they stood up for homosexual students. The second one said that teachers were to remain neutral on controversial topics. Same policy, different wording. Apparently a new one is in the works and hopefully it provides some real guidance. It apparently says that teachers should not advocate their viewpoints, but should also facilitate a learning environment that is safe for all students. I totally get not wanting teachers to advocate political beliefs or whatever--but I am NOT okay with it if it allows certain groups of students to be preyed upon.

The group opposing the newer policy is demanding that the school provide resources for students of faith, ex-homosexual, ex-transgenders along with material linking homosexuality to STDs and conversion programs. 

 I just seriously don't understand Rachel. How can there still be groups of people thinking like this at all in this day and age? It really frightens and upsets me.

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Rachel said ...
The group opposing the newer policy is demanding that the school provide resources for students of faith, ex-homosexual, ex-transgenders along with material linking homosexuality to STDs and conversion programs. 

”

I try to tell myself it comes from a lack of understanding. When reading that article--I got the impression that many think homosexuality is a switch you can turn on and off. They see it as a choice and something that can be cool and trendy and do not want their kids to make that choice. However, science tells us it is not a choice. I do not understand the denial that it is not a choice either. 

However, at the end of the day, no amount of misunderstanding can explain the hate and vitriol that has been spewed in this fight in the Anoka school district. I will never get the people that do not want to make that a safe learning environment for all kids. I will never understand the parents that let their children be bullies. 

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S.I.F. said ...
 I just seriously don't understand Rachel. How can there still be groups of people thinking like this at all in this day and age? It really frightens and upsets me.

”

 I think that's the part that is hardest for me to understand about this situation. It's not just hate directed towards something they don't understand, but rather... it's actually hatred directed towards children. Whether directly or indirectly, that's what it is. And I just can't fathom how anyone could ever allow that to happen, let alone almost encourage it.

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Rachel said ...
However, at the end of the day, no amount of misunderstanding can explain the hate and vitriol that has been spewed in this fight in the Anoka school district. I will never get the people that do not want to make that a safe learning environment for all kids. I will never understand the parents that let their children be bullies. 

”

So unbelievablely sad..

My HS was not like that but I live 20 minutes away from SF. Every room in my HS had the sign "safe space" inside the upside down pink triangle. Calling someone a fag or using the word gay to describe stupid was as punishable as using the n word. I had no idea how intolerant other places are. Breaks my heart.. My cousin by law was in hs and is openly gay in a very Catholic family. His bf is well loved and welcomed in our family, in fact grandma is quite taken with him. In HS he was class resident and very popular. My heart breaks thinking of how awful it would have been for him to grow up in that situation. Thank God we live here not there.

That article breaks my heart.  DD and I were having a discussion about swearing a few days ago.  I told her that, while I would obviously prefer that she didn't swear, words like f%^k and sh!t are infinitely preferable to words like f.ag, d.yke, the n word and r.etard.  Because they are the words that degrade people and that is never ok.  I'm stunned by how many of her friends say that something is gay or that someone is a f.ag.  These are nice kids who would call themselves tolerant, and so would their parents.  It's insidious, creeping in to become a "normal" way for kids to speak to and of each other.  I worry about GLBT kids who hear these words used in this context on a daily basis.  It's not just right-wing fundamentalist communities that marginalise these kids.  

The school district in this article is the extreme, and it's completely disgusting, but minority-bashing is alive and well everywhere.

I just hope that DD remembers what I've said, no matter where she lands on the sexual orientation spectrum.

Unfortunately...  I think that there are just pockets of this everywhere...and I think it is the fault of parents (and maybe a few organizations) for teaching hatred and bullying.

Writing the post about the comedy show made me feel oogey... like I should not have an opinion about a black comedy tour and the racially charged jokes because I could not possibly understand the plight or mentality of modern African Americans...  but it still feels like anti-white racism to me, and I do not know how to reconcile that with what I was taught; Love everyone no matter their background, socioeconomic standing, and skin color.

During my adolescence, I had the unfortunate experience of race riots.  A black man swallowed a bag of cocaine while being chased by police, was finally caught and handcuffed and restrained face down on the ground where he promptly died from the cocaine baggie that ruptured in his body.

The resulting tension in my town was awful.  NAACP, Black Panthers and... KKK all meeting on the courthouse lawn...

 The Black community had "meetings" where they planned looting, vandalism, and told their children which days to riot in school.  They instructed their kids to "jump" white children...and it was incredibly scary.  

The day before it happened I had a diverse and all encompassing list of friends.  The day after, I was afraid I would get hurt.

Because I did not get jumped, I did not completely change my perspective and I kept some of those friends into adulthood...and now over 15 years since it happened... We discuss what happened.  Their version of events is a LOT different than mine, and that is ok. They were kids, and they know only what they were told, but I try not to correct them... if they believe that a man was beaten to death because he was black by white cops, I cannot argue with that.

It was surprising to find out that I shared some sort of "protection" with a few other students... that we were specifically mentioned as "off limits" when these "leaders" were telling these kids to "beat whitey."  On one hand it made me feel good that I had friends (or my parents did?)  who were willing to try to keep me out of harms way... but then I remember the things that happened.

People who had NEVER been mean a day in their life to ANYONE, getting thrown down stairs because they were white.  Nobody should have to experience that...

All that to say that I know in my heart... if something like that were to happen again in this town... I fully believe the same events would repeat.  Riots, vandalism, looting, and black parents and leaders telling their kids to take the opportunity to beat on white kids.  It is a perpetual cycle...and no matter how much we really do care about each other on a good day...on a bad day most of these people change for the worst.

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S.I.F. said ...
Have we really changed so much in the last 20 years? Or will homophobia, and racism, and all other kinds of hatred always be something we are facing as a society?

”

A friend posted this article on facebook.  I am so ashamed to see it.  My mom graduated from Anoka High and I graduated from a neighboring high school.  My little brother is still in high school and has friends at Anoka.  

This is what happens when we have ignorant parents and teachers that are required to stay neutral and PC.  Parents that tell their kids that homosexuality is an abomination. Then kids who are so young and uneducated that they spew their parents hate or the hate that they learn from other adults.  And again, you have educators that are too afraid to say something because their job might be on the line or they might be sued.  Educators that we tell to teach our kids everything else, but dont talk about gay people or we will fire you.  Educators that have to pay for supplies, lunches and shoes for their students at times, but they cant mention the word gay or stand up for a gay student.

You cant stay neutral all the time.  You need to stick up for people.  Kids are uneducated when it comes to things like this because it takes years to understand things like homosexuality.   But it doesn't take years to learn human decency.  To learn that even if you dont agree with someone, you can love and respect them.  You dont have to love or accept their actions, but you can show a person kindness.

What scares the crap out of me, is that these kids will be adults soon.  Ignorant adults.

This story makes me ill.  I hate when nasty, mean, over opinionated idiots vomit hated then stand behind "christianity" like a shield to justify themselves.  Real christians don't spew hatred! 

I hate this, and this article makes me angry. It makes me angry that these are so called Christians spewing hatred and ignoring those that are hurt. You are NOT doing God's work by being hateful and judgmental and they need to re-read the part of the Bible that says they will be judged by the same measure they judged other people. 

I hate how the article kept saying that the schools were forced to not talk about it by religious groups. That means the school board needs to grow some. Their is a definite separation of church and state in this country and the church CAN NOT make a PUBLIC school do anything. Stand up for something people! I just can not stand that children are dying, and I blame those adults.