R.I. Pol: Kids Get “Sexed-Up” at GSA

[The Philosopher]

from Advocate.com

A Rhode Island state representative has received a barrage of criticism since posting comments online last week saying that a high school gay-straight alliance in his district is a venue for students to get “sexed-up” and should cause the school to lose state funding.

The local news website Tiverton-Little Compton Patch carried a story March 28 on the Tiverton High School GSA, approved by school administrators in February. Club founder Cynda Martin, a senior, was quoted as saying, “With the bullying that goes on in schools today, especially for gay kids, it seemed appropriate to have a safe haven for them and their allies.” She added that she hopes to show that gays are not “horrible people.” The article also included complimentary quotes from a teacher and an administrator.

Among the first online commenters on the story was Republican state representative Dan Gordon. He said, “And this is why if I have anything to say about it, Tiverton will lose school funding to local charter schools. It doesn’t matter if gay or straight, if sexual meet-up groups are being promoted in our schools rather than improving test scores, that school is failing. Is it really more important for our children to get ‘sexed-up’, than learning advanced math?”

A war of words ensued between Gordon and other commenters on the site, with most of them defending the GSA and pointing out that the club is designed to offer students support and acceptance, not facilitate sexual hookups.

http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2011/04/04/RI_Pol_Kids_Get_Sexed_Up_at_GSA/">Click Here To Read More

[Hestia]

1. Looks like they took the comments section down. You get what you vote for. n/t

[gratuitous]

2. What meeting was Dan Gordon at?

Maybe he's thinking of something else.

[Journeyman]

3. Well, no more so than glee club, theater arts, or any group that throws kids together. . .

I've no doubt that any gathering of young people will potentially facilitate hookups. But that's not the point of the group. The math club meets to encourage interest in math. If they later divide up and seek to put one and one together, that's not the math club. That's people being people.

[Ian David]

4. He says he has a gay nephew and gay friends, so it's okay.

I wish some of these gay nephews and friends of these people would come forward and say something like, "Congressman X says that he's not homophobic, because he has a gay nephew, and I believe that he's referring to me. For the record, Congressman X actually is a gay-hating, ignorant bastard, who always says the most bigoted things at family gatherings. The rest of my family has always urged me to just 'let it go' so we don't spoil Thanksgiving. So, if Uncle X wants to point to me as his token gay buddy, he's going to have to find someone else to be his Gay Friend Rodney."

[damntexdem]

5. Oh, I thought he meant they got sexed up at the Gerontological Society of America.

;-)

Well, we old folks can be hotties. ;-)

But that chucklehead, Gordon, is not.

[murielm99]

7. Well damn!

I thought it was the Girl Scouts of America.

[Skidmore]

6. Kinda makes you wonder where he goes to get "sexed-up."

[TheWraith]

8. Well, that should boost the attendance at the next GSA meeting.

Although they'll probably all go home disappointed...

[ThomCat]

9. I saw GSA and thought Graduate Student Association.

Which might have been about right based on many of the grad students I knew. The stress of grad school can result in a lot of pairing up. :P

But at a Gay-Straight Alliance in a high school? :wtf:

I agree with the post above. If there is any more hooking up going on there than at the chess club, math club, or glee club I'd be really surprised. It would be more because pairing up happens anywhere teens come together in a group. Not because of the nature of the club.

[MountainLaurel]

10. the General Services Administration?

I thought they were just the federal office management group.