Some day, one hopes not too far in the future, when U.S. culture has unequivocally abandoned the ancient fear of gay human beings, when understanding, fairness and respect has banished ignorance and hate, when same sex marriages are recognized as manifestations of loyalty, commitment and love rather than perversions of nature, and when no American feels the need to hide his or her sexuality, and thus feels no compulsion to trumpet it either, we will look back on such societal embarrassments as the Flour Bluff Intermediate School District as we do now on past purveyors of child labor, forced sterilization, involuntary human experimentation, mistreatment of women, and racism, and wonder, “What was the matter with those people? How did they get that way?”
Or, come to think of it, we could ask that question right now.
Seventeen-year-old Bianca “Nikki” Peet, a senior at Flour Bluffs High School in Corpus Christi, Texas, high school senior requested the she be permitted to launch a Gay-Straight Alliance in her school. The Equal Access Act, a federal law passed in 1984, requires schools receiving federal funding to offer “fair opportunities for students to form student-led groups, regardless of their religious, political and philosophical leanings.” If the school district was going to allow any extracurricular groups, it had to allow Nikki’s.
So it shut down all extracurricular clubs at the school.
Flour Bluff District Superintendent Julie Carbajal told the media that there is no chance her district will approve the purposed Gay-Straight Alliance. In a quote that would make George Orwell smile knowingly, she actually said, “We need to be fair and equitable to all.”
“We need to be fair and equitable to all.” What could be more “fair and equitable” than penalizing all students by ending their access to the educational, recreational and social benefits of school clubs and groups in order to legally humiliate one young woman, stigmatize students and citizens like her, and ostracize her for attempting to foster tolerance and unity at the school? Now Nikki Peet is being blamed by her fellow students and their parents for the loss of the clubs.
Now various gay rights groups in Texas and around the country, as well as the ACLU, are protesting the decision. They shouldn’t have to, of course. The citizens of Corpus Christi should have emphatically rejected the actions of the School District, and sent its leaders a clear message that they needed acknowledge the 21st Century or find another line of work. They haven’t, however. Most appear to back the decision. They do seem very upset that the Fellowship of Christian Athletes has to meet off-campus, though.
What is the matter with these people? How could they have become this way?
Ethics Alarms 
It’s even worse than you suggest, Jack. The decision to disallow the GSA was based on a 2005 decision by the school board not to allow any organizations not tied directly to the curriculum to meet on campus. That’s a pretty stupid move in and of itself, but at least a consistent one. But for six years no one seemed to notice that the Fellowship of Christian Athletes wasn’t exactly curricular. Hmm…
Speaking as a faculty member at a state university in Texas, let me say two things:
1). it’s no wonder a lot of my students (especially, but not exclusively, in general education classes) have no idea how to construct a rational argument with nonsense like this coming from the people who really should be their role models.
2). Nikki Peet is welcome in my classroom any time.
Rick: Thanks for mentioning the 2005 policy, which was a device to avoid the ’84 law, and one that the school promptly violated. I’m trying to train readers to check out the links, which are often there to allow me to avoid another 1000 word post.
The really discouraging thing is reading the comments on the articles about this on the websites of local media.
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GOOOO Nikki Peet!! With those brains and courage, I suspect there’s no holding her back. I do love a determined, socially conscious teenage girl.
I would say… who’s “warring” on whom? For decades- and by every foul method possible- organized perversion has tried to mold itself into a political force. And they have. One of their prime means of doing this has been to infiltrate all facets of the pop culture, public education and push for “gay marriage”- with the concurrent right to adopt children into their unholy unions. All these measures are aimed specifically at children.
The reason is blatantly obvious. Perverts are disinclined, by their very nature, to breed among themselves. They are also defined by their false sexuality and are thereby constantly in search of new “partners”. The younger, the better. And, to maintain power, they must bolster their numbers. All this leads them to their primary strategy of indoctrinating and encompassing children (as early as possible) into their fold. And they do this under the false labels of “fairness”, “tolerance”, “anti-bullying” and the pseudo-science of “genetic predisposition”.
They are perverts- period. And perverts “pervert” all that they touch as a matter of course. Any school system- or any youth organization- that fails to protect the hearts and souls of the children placed in their care- and allow “societies” on-campus (and in middle schools, at that!) that are based on deviant sexuality- are establishments that have fundamentally failed those children and their families.
Steven, your post seems to be a bit off topic. I think the topic at hand was the administration causing harm to other student organizations so that they could prevent the new student group from becoming a reality. Whether their views on the subject were right or wrong, I think the post is saying that their actions were wrong given the legal and societal support that this group is entitled.
Yes. No matter what one’s views regarding gays, the action of the District is indefensible, punishing everyone in sight to avoid compliance with a Federal law.
But Steven is going to be driven to make his point by the general topic. It follows as the night the day. I am resigned.
I think we need clearer definitions on the term “pervert,” to be honest. I think it’s too broad to be put to any use here. I would swear that it’s being used to refer to homosexuals in general, but my youthful sensibilities resist that notion.
It is indeed being used that way.
So what you are saying is that a Gay-Straight Alliance is a good idea, right?
I strongly agree that the school districts decision is indefenensible, throwing out the baby with the bath water, as it were, another fine example of our school administrators having absolutely no clue. Our world is changing at a rapid pace, I can’t keep up. Five years ago I may have agreed with their decision. I have seen too many lives torn to shreds because of the “societal shame” placed on individuals based on their sexual orientation, maybe I’m comin’ around. We are all human beings and we all deserve to be treated with the same amount of respect and dignity from others that we would want for ourselves. (Golden Rule)
Thanks for your consideration.
More like throwing out the baby with the other baby. There is no bathwater here.
We need more brave souls like Nikki Peat to remind us that we are a nation that was founded on a principle of “life, liberty and pursuit of happness.”
Over these last 235 years we have come to realize that it doesn’t apply to just white, heterosexual, men of property.
Did anyone stop to consider that little Miss Peet- a child in a middle school- has no more understanding of the concept and consequences of sexuality than the man in the moon? She’s a child, for God’s sake. But she’s one that has been brought up in a depraved popular culture that stresses child sexuality. Why else would she seek to start a group in her school based solely on the promotion of illicit sex in its worst form? Again, we’re talking about children barely out of the bubblegum age.
Sexual deviance doesn’t come about because one is naturally inclined. It’s learned behavior that overrides the natural inclinations of boys and girls. And, through the culture, it’s become popularized. It’s become “cool” to be a lesbian or “metrosexual”. And organizations like GLSEN exist to keep it that way. So does NAMBLA.
If the school administrators of Flour Bluff ISD are willing to take a stand against Kevin Jennings and his monstrous agenda for their children, I applaud them. There comes a point to which parents and decent citizens have to rally against unjust rules that directly attack their children’s well-being. This is just such an occurrance.
Steven Mark Pilling has no desire to have a discussion. His only desire is to spread his (admittedly) unfounded opinions. If challenged on any of his “facts,” he resorts to dissembling and avoidance. I have given up on him.
See https://ethicsalarms.com/2011/02/14/the-huffington-post-bloggers-lament/comment-page-1/#comment-10744 and his response https://ethicsalarms.com/2011/02/14/the-huffington-post-bloggers-lament/comment-page-1/#comment-10748 as an example of this behavior. That entire thread is well worth a read before deciding to engage with this poster.
No “unfounded facts”, TGT. Just the truth; simple, unvarnished and politically incorrect. And here’s another. The deviants who used to stalk the schoolyards and playgrounds are indestinguishable from those who now aspire to RUN those schoolyards… and the classrooms themselves. In all too many cases- including at the U.S. Department of Education- they already do. If that doesn’t scare the hell out of parents, I really don’t know what it’ll take.