"It's OK to be Gay" article in yearbook draws ire and threats

I'm happy that that article got printed, in something that's theoretically going to be around for a long time.

But on the other hand, relative to the yearbooks I've had in elementary/high school and university residence... I don't understand why it was there in the first place. I mean, in our books, we always just kinda recapped events, did the awards, class photos, etc. Articles didn't really seem to have a spot in them. So to me, this feels like it's out of place for it to be there... like it's being forced for the sake of progress.

But this isn't exactly a bad thing.

 

I think it's good to have an article like that, because people need to get the message. That's the thing: people who don't know anything about us make assumptions. Bad ones.

 

Screw everyone else. Zac is a courageous young man. I understand that a year book is generally generic, but at some point we have to be accepted. It's taken for granted that "everyone is straight." This is just a reminder that well...

BUT, I do hope this article was written with Zac's permission. He's the one putting himself out there, after all...

 

There's nothing for people to get upset about. If a person doesn't like the article, tear out the page or glue a blank piece of paper over it. People like that are such idiots. Just because it's in a book doesn't mean you have to agree with it or like it. Maybe you hate football, are you going to get mad that there is a picture of the football team in the yearbook? No, you just won't look at the picture. Of course that would be the response by a rational person, but we know the pro-discrimination people are anything but rational. Idiots!

 

gosh, don't read the comments section in THAT article...

I read like two pages and gave up. Seriously, do people still not understand that being gay is not a choice?!?! Even people who thought they were being very "tolerant" and "clever" were like, "if people choose to be homosexual that's their business but..."

and to accuse a teacher of "pushing his orientation onto students" because he merely allowed a student to express his experiences?

I hope that all of the students read that article, really read it at some point, and that it opens their eyes. It seems like there is still a lot more work to be done.

 

By saying that the student is pushing his sexual orientation on students, couldn't that man be considered pushing his orientation on the students? Maybe now people can see what hypocrisy goes into the anti-gay argument. Then again, unless they simply refuse to see another point of view. It's sad that there's a furor over someone simply exercising his right to free speech.

 

The bottom line here. I am, on the one hand, totally unsurprised by the response to this article, but I also think it goes to show that articles like this need to be written. Everything about the experience shows the need for more education and more support - from the threats being made against the person who wrote the article to the idea that "impressionable youth" might somehow be turned gay by the article. If only more students and teachers were writing such things for yearbooks.

 

My head hurts at the board member who himself looks like a douche...