Following up on a post a few days ago - sharing an editorial from The Advocate’s John Casey about what’s been happening in King George County, Virginia, after the community there reacted with voiceferous bigotry after the story broke. It gets at a...
Following up on a post a few days ago - sharing an editorial from The Advocate’s John Casey about what’s been happening in King George County, Virginia, after the community there reacted with voiceferous bigotry after the story broke. It gets at a much bigger question about who gets to make decisions about student belonging and support. Last year, students at King George Middle School tried to start a Gay-Straight Alliance. They wrote a constitution, found a faculty sponsor, and received approval from the principal. Seventeen students signed up within three days. Then conservative community members took to Facebook. The faculty sponsor was targeted online, accusations of “grooming” started flying, and the School Board ultimately changed its rules to block noncurricular clubs at the middle school, effectively stopping the GSA from meeting. The students and their families are now suing in federal court. Casey writes about growing up without anything resembling a GSA and what it means to watch adults take away a space that LGBTQ+ kids themselves were trying to create. From an educational perspective, the situation begs the question: What responsibility do schools have when students organize an approved club, only for community pressure to intervene? submitted by /u/Fickle-Ad5449 [link] [comments]
