Your inclusion of the Associated Press article about anti-harrssment policy for gay students (Sept. 18) pandered to one side of the issue. That article never included the reason for the addition of sexual orientation into existing anti-harrassment guidelines already enforced
Your inclusion of the Associated Press article about anti-harrssment policy for
gay students (Sept. 18) pandered to one side of the issue.
That article
never included the reason for the addition of sexual orientation into existing
anti-harrassment guidelines already enforced by the Board of Education: School
districts on the mainland are being sued by parents angry at the treatment,
oftentimes violent, inflicted on sons and daughters without school officals
stepping in to stop it, and for the failure of school districts to provide a
safe learning environment for all students.
Parents are getting sick and
tired of emergency room and hospital visits. They’re getting sick and tired of
the unnecessary emotional problems vested upon their children for the mere
suspicion of being lesbian or gay. And they’re doing something about it –
going to court and winning big settlements. Settlements that taxpayers must
pay.
Kudos to the Board of Education for taking the steps necessary to
ensure the safety of students, and kudos to the board for trying to prevent
undue harm, both physical and emotional, to our young people and their parents,
despite the efforts of hate and fear-mongering, rightwing, intolerant zealots.
And kudos to the board of for trying to keep the taxpayers’ money where it
belongs – in the classroom, benefitting all of our students.
Martin
Rice
Kapa`a
