Michael writes:
> I just think that this story seems even more (to my eye) to
be about saving _poor_ gay teens from the compound abyss
of class and homophobia and teen angst.
The abyss of class is faced by all poor teens in NYC. NYC high schools are pretty awful. I think the problem is that in protecting queer youth, a new school was bult that is modern which is the kind of school all kids should have (as you pointed out), but which now appears only for queers (which is not true btw. There are gender non-conforming straight youth in the school as well). Now the enemies of queers want to destroy it.
As for teen angst -- it is in every school.
> For teens in Manhattan, class deprivation must, I'd guess,
at least treble the social-psychological "stonewall" gay teens
everywhere feel.
I think you are romanticizing the effects of class at the expense of underestimating het hate. When I listen to these youth I hear the same story I hear from Terrance and other queer youth across the country (both those in good schools and bad schools). Terrance himself went to what was known where he grew up as the "white school." His parents' philosophy was that the school had to teach their child as well as the white children and that they wouldn't dilute the education just because there were some black faces -- white people weren't that spiteful (through TJ and I are beginning to wonder).
TJ avoided school and experienced problems not because of the quality of the teachers, books or equipment, but because of the unrelenting hate and violence that was directed toward him. His sister, who went to the black high school, went on to the University of South Caroline despite the fact that the books she used in high school were the same ones her sister had used 15 years earlier. Terrence, who had the new books and modern equipment wanted absolutely nothing to do with college after he finished high school.
The basis of any education is a safe and secure environment for all youth. And right now in NYC, such a place can only be provided for queer youth in their own school. You have young people who are exposed to heterosexism in their homes, their churches, the culture at large, and progressives are suddenly expecting them to ignore this indoctrination and not act on it when they pass through the portals of their high school. Seems that with all that progressives know (or should know) about material causes, they suddenly go blood simple when it comes to queers and their issues.
> Seems like a rare example of actual collective social
sensitivity.
Yes, but so many progressives want to dismantle it because it goes against their preconceived notions of what is right. It is so discouraging. Of course, you also have the hererosexists who suddenly find priciples and want to make sure there is no discrimination. I don't who is worse: the faux progressives who promote hate or the conservatives who feign sympathy for equality and promote hate.
Brian Dauth Queer Buddhist Resister