From CNN –
NEW YORK (AP) — New York City is creating the nation’s first public high school for gays, bisexuals and transgender students.
The Harvey Milk High School will enroll about 100 students and open in a newly renovated building in the fall. It is named after San Francisco’s first openly gay city supervisor, who was assassinated in 1978.
“I think everybody feels that it’s a good idea because some of the kids who are gays and lesbians have been constantly harassed and beaten in other schools,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Monday. “It lets them get an education without having to worry.”
Story found via Crescat Sententia.
UPDATE: The Fifty Minute Hour is discussing this.
UPDATE 2: Peter Northup of Crescat Sententia has posted an excellent defense of the idea of HMHS. (Link may not work in Opera)..
My thoughts on this are twofold:
* 100 slots in the country’s biggest school district isn’t a lot. How do they decide who gets to attend?
* Is this really the right approach? If, say, Black kids “have been constantly harassed and beaten in other schools”, would it be seen as a positive step that the Mayor of NYC suggested a voluntary segregation of sorts?
First off, this is my first post on this website. I can’t say that I disagree with the reasons behind the formation of a school for gays only. I do, however, question the legality and the consequences of such a move.
From reading some of the other comments on other topics, I gather that some of the regulars are probably more versed in the law than myself. Isn’t it against the law to discriminate or segregate based on sexual orientation? (It’s been a while since my last civil rights class, so I could be mistaken.) Also, do we really think that by having gays interact daily with only themselves that we are helping them? I personally think it would serve both straight and gay students the best if they were exposed to one another.
Thoughts?
“Isn’t it against the law to discriminate or segregate based on sexual orientation?”
Depends on the state and whether the discrimination is part of a Constitutionally- protected right.
For example, the state of New Jersey prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. However, the US Supreme Court ruled that the Boy Scouts could throw out a gay scoutmaster, despite its being a violation of the NJ law, because the First Amendment protects freedom of association and the Boy Scouts didn’t want to associate with a homosexual.
I don’t think this high school is the way to go.
… and will this prevent them from being harassed? I can imagine gangs of idiots hanging around outside the school ready to pounce on anyone that comes or goes. Might they also be “blackballed” (no pun intended) from certain colleges once the admissions office sees what their Alma Mater is?
Regarding the Boy Scouts case…wasn’t part of the issue also the fact that BSA as a private organization could choose who it allows into their ranks (similar reasoning as the Augusta Country Club not allowing women)? However the posting states the school would be a public one…
The high school doesn’t discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation; straight students are allowed to enroll and attend. Follow the link to The Fifty-Minute Hour for more details.
Cool. I like that straight students can go there. That could become a hip thing to say. I can imagine kids there or from there running into new sets of problems, but some will now have a choice they didn’t have before.
Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but I thought the line in the article noting that the school “also will specialize in computer technology, arts and culinary arts,” was just a little too cutesy. Sure, there will be some readers of the article who will laugh and ask “are they going to teach dancing and cooking?” but the article doesn’t have to indulge those stereotypes.
Come to think of it, why is a high school specializing in culinary arts? Is that really such a robust vocational path that they want to start steering kids that way in high school?
Both New York City and New York State law prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, although it’s probably legal if straight students can enroll.
I really want to be opposed to this, but I don’t think I can. I want straight kids to have to learn to live with and have normal relations with non-straight kids, just as I want white kids to have to learn to live with black kids. It’s the only way to get them to deal normally as adults.
But, I had a hell of a time just being a fat nerd in high school. Being gay has got to be a lot worse than that. I can’t blame anyone who wants to offer a safe haven to kids who are going to have a bad time in normal schools.
Summer:Also, do we really think that by having gays interact daily with only themselves that we are helping them? I personally think it would serve both straight and gay students the best if they were exposed to one another.
Well I don’t know if this analogy works, but I went to an all-girls woman-centred, feminist high school and this argument was used against the school all the time (frequently by those of us attending). Basically we felt that by keeping us separate from the “real world”, the school was doing us a disservice in failing to prepare us for the harrassement and discrimination we would inevitably face once we graduated. But looking back on it, and on my experiences since graduating, I can tell you that that’s not what happened. Being in an environment where I was not discriminated against, where I was listened to, and where my sex was not considered the most relevant thing about me, I got accustomed to that kind of treatement. So once I graduated I hadn’t learned to take that kind of discrimination in stride, and I respond to it with the kind of outrage that it deserves.
As far as straight students needing to get used to gays, fuck it. It’s not worth it. When we stop teaching our kids to hate homos then we can expect to expose homos to our kids. Not before.
i’m pretty sure that SF already has a high school like this. Possibly also called the Harvey Milk high school
Sure, there will be some readers of the article who will laugh and ask “are they going to teach dancing and cooking?” but the article doesn’t have to indulge those stereotypes.
Stereotypes have a funny way of being somewhat true (there’s a good line somewhere by Toni Morrison about clichés, but I can’t remember it). Considering that it is New York City, the home of Broadway and an historically well-established gay community(ies), would it be wrong to bet that such a high school would have an amazing theater program? Maybe working at a gay paper has got me a little skewed, but my coworkers think the idea is, well, fabulous.
Besides which haven’t you heard of culinary school? Especially in a city like New York, someone could make a great career out of being a professional chef.
And I must take issue with this:
and will this prevent them from being harassed? I can imagine gangs of idiots hanging around outside the school ready to pounce on anyone that comes or goes. Might they also be “blackballed” (no pun intended) from certain colleges once the admissions office sees what their Alma Mater is?
No this won’t stop the harassment but so what? At least they’d have a built in support group, and a place where they can be themselves. It would be great if they could do this in normal high schools, but let’s face it, most public schools aren’t exactly filled with the most enlightened of individuals.
I think that this is great news. This is one of the best things I’ve heard in weeks.
Jake: When we stop teaching our kids to hate homos then we can expect to expose homos to our kids.
I couldn’t agree more with this comment, Jake. However, the point I was trying to make is that I don’t think it is possible for us to teach kids this by creating special schools for special groups of people just because they don’t get along with the other kids. If that were the case, there would be hundreds of different kinds of schools. Let’s face it, there are different people in the world with different views and we are not going to be able to accept those differences by separating people into groups.
Summer, there’s a difference between “not getting along” and being physically threatened or hurt. Kids shouldn’t be forced to go to a school in which their health is at risk. And I doubt this kind of school would be created if it were only a matter of verbal assault.
And yes, kids get beat up and pushed around in school all the time. But if there’s an identifiable reason behind the abuse–sexual orientation, or perceived sexual orientation, in this example–then it makes sense to create a safe environment for them elsewhere.
Another thing: Many public schools not only don’t support gay-tolerance programs, they actively oppose them. The problem isn’t only with the individual kids and their personal, parent- and community-inspired beliefs; it’s inherent in the public school system. How can kids possibly escape this kind of abuse without their school’s–or a whole different school’s–help?
Good point Hestia. It reminds me of a story I heard from a friend who grew up in Utah. He and others wanted to form a Gay/Straight Alliance at their high school, and it was banned by the school board. When a court ordered that the school board could not ban this group just because they didn’t agree that gay people aren’t evil, they just outright banned all extracurricular activities. That’s right, they preferred to ban chess club, yearbook and I’m sure many bible study groups if it meant not giving homosexuals a basis of support.
Of course that’s Utah.
Sorry for the tangent, folks.
I support the creation of this school, but it depresses me. I do not agree with segregating (even in a self-selected way) gays and straights, but the need for it to prevent harrassment is undeniable. I will be happiest when this school closes for lack of interest because gay teens are happy where they are.
Are there special schools that discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation?
I think that this is a great idea. I have a lot of gay friends and we attend a public school and other people make fun of my friends and it hurts me when they say mean things. Even though homosexuality is against my religion, I still think that people of any kind should be treated with respect.