Self Righteousness Flares Up in Potomac

There's something interesting going on over at Winston Churchill High School, in Potomac. A couple of weeks ago, the Gay-Straight Alliance there put up some posters in honor of GLSEN's (Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network) Ally Week. Ally Week is a nationwide event in the schools, "empowering students to be allies against anti-LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) bullying, harassment and name-calling in K-12 schools," according to the web site.

The Churchill posters had quotes, like:

"Every human being has a sexual orientation--homosexuality is just one of them"

and some by famous people:

"There is no such things as a Homosexual or Heterosexual person. There are only homo or heterosexual acts. Most people are a mixture of impulses if not practices...Gore Vidal"

Whether you agree or disagree, whatever. It's posters in the high school.

Anyway, most of the posters were about sexuality and tolerance, because, well, that's what the Gay-Straight Alliance is about.

According to a Churchill student:

As far as I've seen, the posters are just thought provoking but there has been a few incidents of vandalism. Someone wrote "God hates fags" on the corner of one poster and another poster has been repeatedly ripped down. A group of parents called in to get the school to take down one of the posters. Apparently a parent took a word, "slippery," out of context (why is it that our opponents are the ones with the sick minds?). The posters were definitely approved by school administrators. Before any club is allowed to put up posters, they need to be revised, approved and signed by an administrator. The objective of the posters was not to offend or impose anything...it was just to create a safer haven and let students know that the Gay Straight Alliance exists.

Can you imagine? I thought God Hates Fags was just some Deliverance extras out in Kansas. But this is Potomac, Maryland, people. Home of big-time athletes, politicians, rock stars.

And that "slippery" thing. What do you say when you call up the school to complain that somebody used the word "slippery" on a poster? That seems to get you started down a s******* slope.

Well, I guess the reason you have something like a Gay-Straight Alliance at a school is to counter this sort of thing. These kids seem pretty plucky about it. They keep putting the poster back up.

At work, we have a little bulletin board near the microwave, where people can put up signs. Retirement parties, selling the old car, stuff like that. Once I put up a sign that just said "Do Not Remove This Sign."

Naturally, somebody removed it.

I put it back up. They took it down again. We went through that a whole bunch of times. I never knew who took it down, and they never knew who put it up.

But it made me wonder. Can you imagine walking around thinking that it's your job to take down other people's signs? Some people really do think they've been chosen to make the rules for everybody. Some people really can't just let people do what they do, they actually believe that they know what's best for everybody.

You kids keep hanging up those posters. TeachTheFacts.org supports you, and so do lots of other people.