Some students at Highlands Ranch and ThunderRidge high schools
serve as a collective symbol of how Colorado is emerging from a
rather mean-spirited phase in its recent history.
Others serve as an example of how far the state has to
go.
You see, it was 10 years ago that the majority of the state’s
voters approved Amendment 2, an anti-gay rights measure that the
U.S. Supreme Court later ruled unconstitutional.
It was in the last two years, however, that students at the
northern Douglas County schools formed Gay Straight Alliance
clubs.
The clubs, which are not sponsored by the school district but
meet in district buildings, serve as a forum and support group for
all students, facing all issues. The emphasis on the word “all”
cannot be overlooked, given research about the difficulties faced
by gay teens.
Local social workers and law-enforcement officers have noted
that gay teens have a higher likelihood of becoming substance
abusers, committing suicide or both. Research backs their
observations.
No matter what one thinks about a gay teen’s lifestyle, no
teen-ager is expendable. To shut a teen out and leave him or her
feeling that drug abuse or suicide are the only coping mechanisms
is immoral and reflects poorly on the entire community.
The teens in the alliance – who are among more than a dozen such
clubs in metro area school districts – deserve praise for
recognizing this and doing their part to make all people feel
welcome in the community.
We often think of children in terms of potential. They are the
potential scientists who could discover a cure for cancer; they are
the potential entrepreneurs who could make a product or start a
service to revolutionize our lives; they are youngsters who simply
have the potential to be good people who live good lives.
And some of them are potentially gay.
Unfortunately, we still have a way to go, something subtly
acknowledged by Thunder-Ridge Principal Mike Lynch. Lynch warned
students who formed the alliance that they might become “targets”
for belonging to the club. The adult who sits in on every club
meeting and is responsible for “security” also serves as a reminder
of the ground to be covered.
When teens in the alliance polled fellow classmates, they found
some of them to be hateful – to put it politely.
Covering that “ground” does not – and should not – entail
replacing one rigid and unaccepting value system for another. It
simply means valuing every teen-ager for what he or she is – a
human being.