No Public Displays of Affection Allowed

By Sue Katz, Consenting Adult. Posted May 21, 2008.

Bullying is a massive problem in the schools (not to mention the workplace, the streets and the blogosphere), so it is rather shocking that one Memphis, Tennessee high school principal is in the business of outing kids she hears may be gay. In fact, the ACLU is bringing legal action in this bizarre case in which the principal of the school publicly posted the names of all the kids she had heard were in romantic relationships. One couple involved two young men who were just exploring a connection and who were very anxious to keep it private.

Daphne Beasley, the principal, must have copied her methodology from the Bush/Cheney school of investigation. How did she gather her info? By asking around among the teachers and students. Like the government, Beasley found no weapons of mass destruction, but she did feel free to post for all to see info she gathered from colleagues and kids. In a bow to strict science, she just took their word for it.

Her research technique, though, makes no less sense than her dodgy purpose: she wanted to keep an eye on the student lovebirds to ensure that there were no public displays of affection in her school. Everyone knows how insidious and dangerous public displays of affection are. Probably second only to terrorism.

Although no one ever observed the boys in any show of affection, the principal outed one boy, Nicholas, to his shocked mother. The mother of the other lad, Andrew, was scandalized by the principal's behavior. "African-American people face enough obstacles to succeeding in this world and I want my son to have every opportunity he's worked so hard for. Our schools should be helping our children do well, not tearing them down for something like this."

It is no less disgusting that the straight students' names were posted or that their affections were deemed such a threat to public order. The consequences for the gay kids, however, have already been dire. According to the ACLU, Nicholas, despite excellent qualifications, was turned down for a school trip to New Orleans to contribute to the rebuilding effort because "some faculty were afraid he might 'embarrass the school' or engage in 'inappropriate behavior.'"

Principal Beasley not only spewed her homophobic "opinions" about the boys, but forbade them to even walk or study together. And this was not an isolated problem. Just this week, the decision in Brisbane, Australia of an Anglican Church school to ban same-sex couples from attending the prom has raised concerns there about bullying. One source reported that, "The Queensland Anti-Discrimination Commissioner, Susan Booth, said sexuality discrimination was unlawful, and that applied to private and public schools ... "

Such discrimination and vilification can be lethal. According to the American Psychological Association, suicide among young people has been rising dramatically, particularly among kids of color -- themselves often the object of bullying and disdain. Says the APA, "Suicide is now the third leading cause of death for people aged 15-24 ... [and] suicide is the number one cause of death for gay teens."

As I looked into this, I read on WebMD that, "A study on teen bullying shows that lesbian and gay teens are three times more likely than heterosexual teens to report being bullied."

And Mental Health America quantifies this sad reality when they point out that, "gay/ lesbian/ bisexual/ transgender (GLBT) teens additionally have to deal with harassment, threats, and violence directed at them on a daily basis. They hear anti-gay slurs such as 'homo', 'faggot' and 'sissy' about 26 times a day or once every 14 minutes."

That is a shitload of abuse and those are some freaky stats. It's time that educators knew the consequences of their prejudices and personal sexual repression. It's time that kids were able to show affection -- and I'm not talking about a quickie in the science lab -- without the scorn of judgmental adults and bullying peers.

Q. How many puritanical educators does it take to change a light bulb?

A. None. They clearly want everyone to remain in the dark.

See more stories tagged with: gay rights, relationships, student rights

Sue Katz has published journalism on the three continents where she has lived; her topics range from Middle East peace movements to the impact of ageing on sexuality. Visit her blog at www.suekatz.com

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