Gay children of today

It's turning into a beautiful day here. We just got home from breakfast. I wanted to blog for a bit and see what was going on in the world. Afterwards, I will spend my day doing a bit of yard work.

I've spent some time discussing my views on politics in general and, of late, Senator Santorum's views that came out last week. One thing I've rarely talked about is children, and the world they live in. I know... you are probably wondering how a gay political site such as this would even be concerned with children. Well, I used to be one myself, and I know very well the difficulties associated with being a gay kid. But today, things are a bit different in big ways. In my childhood, there was very little you could do to stop harassment and bigoted views of what you are. Today, kids are speaking out more and demanding that their rights be respected. You see more law suits in the news where kids as young as 12 years old are standing up and saying "I have rights here and what you are doing to me is wrong!". I am humbled by the courage these young people show and, I'm extremely proud of them. Let's look briefly at some of the cases that are either pending or settled in court.

Students detail anti-gay harassment incidents. The allegations behind six former Morgan Hill School District students suing the district for failing to protect them from anti-gay harassment are varied and occurred between 1991 and 1998, according to Tuesday’s published opinion of Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge, Mary M. Schroeder.

Boyd gay-rights club to meet again - School district ponders appeal of ruling against ban. CANNONSBURG, Ky. -- A Boyd County High School gayrights group plans to meet tomorrow -- its first gathering since December when the school board banned such club meetings. School officials said they'll comply with the preliminary injunction issued by U.S. District Judge David L. Bunning to allow the Gay-Straight Alliance to meet, but the Boyd County school board hasn't decided whether to appeal.

Reno school authorities agreed Tuesday to a wide-ranging settlement of a gay rights lawsuit, instituting a stringent anti-harassment policy and paying $451,000 to a gay youth who was driven from local schools.

14 Year Old Gay Student Sues Arkansas School Board. (Little Rock, Arkansas) The American Civil Liberties Union filed suit in federal court today against the Pulaski County Special School District for its treatment of an openly gay 14-year-old student. The lawsuit contends that school officials violated Thomas McLaughlin’s rights to free speech, equal protection, and privacy, and that they violated the establishment clause of the First Amendment by preaching to him and forcing him read the Bible as punishment.

There are many more - these are just a few of the stories. The important point is that these kids now understand that they have a legal avenue to pursue. That's very important. One could say that option was always there, and you would be right. However, what hasn't always been there is the willingness of legal authorities to take issues of gay rights seriously. Historically, we are talking about times past when it was "ok" and "acceptable" to raid gay bars, just for the sake of harassment - harassment against law-abiding citizens who happened to be disliked by society. For that, law enforcement officials were more than willing to turn an eye away from what was legally right and what they could get away with. There have been murders in the past of gay citizens that were totally ignored by law enforcement officials. Not so long ago in Maine, there was a case where a young gay man was thrown from a bridge by three of his straight peers. Unfortunately, he was thrown from the bridge into a canal with water and couldn't swim. He screamed for help and his assailants drove away ignoring his screams. They were caught and the toughest sentence they received was twelve (12) years in jail! Think about that. Serving twelve years for premeditated murder of another human being. Is it any wonder why the gay community was worried that the crime on Matthew Shepard would be prosecuted fairly, given the conservative area of the nation the crime took place in? True to form, in the very early stages of the Matthew Shepard crime, it came out that the defense attorneys were going to try to get any sentence imposed on their clients reduced because the victim was gay. They outwardly stated that the victim was gay, so who was going to be too hard on the boys who did this? It backfired and to this day, I must admit that I'm a bit surprised that the two boys who did that horrible crime to Matthew now face two life sentences in prison. I suppose I'm more cynical than most. I expected them to get a slap on the wrist and a tough lecture on why it just was "bad form" to beat a gay person to death. This is exactly why "hate crime legislation" as well call it today is such a big an issue. People see the gay community trying to get hate crime legislation passed, because we have seen first hand the bigotry in the legal system over the years.

Aside from this, I'd like to talk a bit about the 14 year old boy who is suing the Arkansas School Board. His name is Thomas McLaughlin. He has been targeted for harassment. "All I want out of this is for me and other gay students to be able to go to school without being preached to and without being expected to lie about who we are," said Thomas McLaughlin. The lawsuit contends that school officials violated Thomas McLaughlin’s rights to free speech, equal protection, and privacy, and that they violated the establishment clause of the First Amendment by preaching to him and forcing him to read the Bible as punishment. In addition, he was forced to listen to anti-gay preaching and censor his speech, all for the crime of mentioning that he was gay during school hours. According to the school district, McLaughlin's "discussions outside of class time disrupted the learning process," and it was appropriate to discipline him. Not only did the school district attempt to restrict his speech by means of religious punishment and lectures, school officials actually called McLaughlin's mother last year to let her know that her son was gay. She was understanding, but the school officials continued to harass her son.

Can you imagine the courage this young man must have to pursue this. I'm sure many of us would rather take our lumps just to get through it. Today, we see youth who are courageous and willing to stand up for the rights that our Constitution grants them. It's taken me a long time to get to that point. Today, if someone calls me a "faggot", I will confront them about it because, although they are entitled to their opinion, I am also entitled to make them accountable for what that did to me as a person. If it hurt, they are going to know about it in no uncertain terms, because they don't have the right to do that. It's taken me half my life to get to the point where I'm not like a deer paralyzed by fear in front of headlights. I am in awe of these kids, and I envy them.