from Gay Activism in the Schools

Gay High School Clubs
Put Students in Spotlight

A parent recently wrote us to express her anger that her 15-year-old son had been involved for some time--without her knowledge--in a school club called the Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA). Her son was photographed with the club for a local newspaper article.

The GSA distributes materials to sexually questioning students, offering them a "safe place" to talk about their sexuality. A GSA pamphlet, sent to NARTH by the concerned mother, encourages questioning teens to free themselves from narrow, either-or, "Western stereotypes" and "try on a little Eastern thinking"--that is, consider seeing themselves as bisexual.

The boy's mother said that she is "appalled at the voluminous amount of marketing material" that is distributed to students from a one-sided position. She wrote:

"If one is a 'questioning' student, this material provides them little escape from believing they are gay! The GSA working in isolation has enormous unsupervised power to influence a questioning child's self-perceptions.

"Because my son is a 'questioning' boy of 15, I am greatly concerned at the school's role in leading him down a path which may cause him great distress, not to mention his family...My son is now so firmly connected to the GSA that my refusing him to be involved would cause great distress and would work further against me as a parent. If the GSA is to exist, it must acknowledge that the [gay-is-who-you are] ideology is not the only ideology. Information must be made available that covers a full range of thinking on this topic, and be given equal play.

"It should be assumed that ALL children who are participating in this group are 'questioning' children. As it is now, the material available assumes the child 'knows' they are gay or lesbian and SUPPORTS them in coming out. Parents should have a voice in helping their child work through the sexual-identity confusion.

"Please understand that I'm not against the safety of gay/lesbian children in the schools. This is critically important. I am against the sweeping power the GSA has to promote a matter-of-fact ideology without any supervising controls--especially from parents."