Gay-friendly online high school believed to be first of its kind

[canis_lupus]

From the St. Paul Pioneer Press:

Brooklyn Suchy was in sixth grade when she wore her Gay Straight Alliance shirt for all to see: "GSA, like it or not, I am what I am."

It was at a restaurant in Newport where her shirt drew the ire of a group of girls. They called her names. They shoved her. And then they locked her in the restaurant's bathroom.

"Others don't accept people who want to be who they want to be," said Brooklyn, now a ninth-grader at Crosswinds East Metro Arts & Science School. The 15-year-old Landfall girl considers herself bisexual.

Those were the kinds of stories that prompted one local educator to begin an online high school catering to students like Brooklyn. Named the GLBTQ Online High School, it is based in Maplewood and believed to be the first of its kind. (GLBTQ represents gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or questioning.)

http://www.twincities.com/allheadlines/ci_12994208?nclick_check=1

[ProgressiveProfessor]

1. I have really mixed feelings about this

School is one of the places we mix outside our own little demographic groups. This further isolates young LGBTQs from the rest of their age group which is detrimental to everyone involved and society as a whole. Then again, if you are being harassed and bullied at school and related activities, I more than understand going elsewhere.

There are the usual high moral ground answers to this, such as we should all try to get along, better, sensitivity training, more teacher involvement and monitoring, but if its not working now, I doubt it will get much better soon.

The practical answer in my life was martial arts. I was better trained in early JrHi than the vast majority of the population, and everyone in my school. After my complaints went unheeded, and in some cases dismissed, I fought back. The crap stopped after that.

[DarkTirade]

2. Unfortunately nowadays fighting back even in obvious cases of defense

will often get a student suspended or expelled because of ridiculously stupid 'Zero Tolerance' policy crap. Of course, any parents who sue the school for curtailing their child's right to defend themselves invariably wins. But not everyone has the resources to hire a lawyer.

... but yeah. Any kids I may have are learning martial arts. My brother is a karate teacher, and he taught his daughter. When she was in elementary school a bully crossed the line from verbal to physical, and she took him down with one kick. She knew how and where to kick too, so she did absolutely no damage. But she hit a nerve cluster that caused a large amount of pain. So the big class bully got not only taken down with one hit by a girl, but this happened in front of everyone, and he fell to the ground and broke down crying right there.

Needless to say, after that he was incapable of BEING a bully any more. :P