I don't know how many people out there reading this are familiar with what's been happening in the Anoka-Hennepin school district in Minnesota, so I recommend these three articles should that be the case (one two three). To summarize the situation, in less than two years, nine students in the public school system in that district committed suicide.
There are factors that combined to create a hostile environment for these nine kids and many, many more besides. The primary cause was the Sexual Orientation Curriculum Policy (eventually referred to as just the "neutrality" policy) passed in this school district. It said the following:
Anoka-Hennepin staff, in the course of their professional duties, shall remain neutral on matters regarding sexual orientation including but not limited to student-led discussions.
While this may seem like a practical way to ensure equality of opinion and belief, it's really a policy devised by the school district's legal department intended to help prevent any potential lawsuits. What it does is require all teachers remain outside of any situation where sexual orientation plays a part. So what seems to be the case here is that, with teachers and administrators with their hands tied behind their backs, students were allowed free rein on this one topic with no recourse whatsoever. There was horrible verbal and physical abuse going on but when brought to the attention of school officials, it was found to be in relation to perceived sexual orientation, and so no actions were taken to put a stop to it. This eventually led to nine student suicides—in less than two years.
Attendance in a public secondary school, in most states in this country, is mandatory at least until a student reaches the age of 16. In many places, it's 17 or 18. What this means is that by enacting this policy, this Minnesota school district (comprised of two counties) turned a blind eye to hateful speech and conduct that occurred in a place students were required to be (or else face certain consequences). The kids who were and are the targets of this horrid behavior couldn't just walk out of the building. They couldn't leave the grounds altogether. What's more, they had to either swallow the abuse or perhaps band together with other students going through the same thing. There was no help coming from the teachers or the school staff. They were on their own. It's like a modern day Lord of the Flies.
Even if your beliefs dictate that homosexuality is wrong, surely you can't advocate a policy, in a public school no less, that ignores and by doing so encourages verbal and physical abuse towards any subset of students, some of whom don't even identify as being in that group. Nine students, nine children, took their own lives, and this policy that forced teachers to look away while the pressure came down on these nine kids is, from all indications, what is to blame.
Children can be cruel. We all know that, have seen and most likely experienced it firsthand. A school is ideally, first and foremost, a place of learning, and a public school is one available to all. We put restrictions on what can be brought into a school in terms of physical weapons like knives and guns. There is to be no hitting in a school, on either the student's or teacher's part. But, words are capable of inflicting pain too, and here a certain kind was okay. Even physical abuse, bullying, was okay in this case, as long as the target of that abuse was perceived as being in any way connected to the LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning) community.
The point I'm trying to make is not about gay rights or freedom of speech in a public school. What I am taking issue with here is the policy passed that required teachers to remain silent or lose their jobs. Essentially, this policy forced teachers in the district to make a choice between their principles and their livelihood, and no one should have to make that decision. No one should have to suffer horrible abuse in a place intended for learning, either, and this neutrality policy required exactly that. Beliefs are not universal, but certainly human decency should be.
What kind of message has been sent to these kids?
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