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greeneyedgrrl · 12-15-2011, 03:06 PM

i've read the responses and the articles and i agree that the school was in a difficult position and probably did their best in the situation. could they have done it differently/better? i think they could have. i believe that there is a good possibility that the child was coerced (whether that was intent or not) into allowing them to tell his parents.

it seems that people are saying that because he came out publicly in one are of his life, that gives the school (or anyone else for that matter) the right to out him somewhere else? i disagree wholeheartedly with that. i am out in all areas of my life, but I get to choose to whom, where and how i come out. i also allow my daughter to choose with whom, how and where she comes out. she has never been out at school and has selected a few friends to be out to, and i fully support her choice.

i believe it's the same in this situation, the child knows better than anyone else where he feels safe. i believe they could talk to the parents about the bullying and even the content of the bullying without confirming or denying the child's sexuality. they could approach it from the standpoint that the child is being bullied based on other children's perception of him (it doesn't matter whether the perception is accurate), and make a plan for safety based on that.

i think that what the school did was better than sticking their heads in the sand, and i think the outcome would've been greatly improved if they had contacted an lgbt group like glsen prior to taking action. hopefully they will take this as a learning/growth experience and see it as an opportunity to do better next time.

12-15-2011, 03:06 PM	#13
greeneyedgrrl Member How Do You Identify?: femme/queer Preferred Pronoun?: she/her Join Date: May 2011 Location: cali Posts: 1,484 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 7,932 Thanked 3,267 Times in 835 Posts Rep Power: 21474850	i've read the responses and the articles and i agree that the school was in a difficult position and probably did their best in the situation. could they have done it differently/better? i think they could have. i believe that there is a good possibility that the child was coerced (whether that was intent or not) into allowing them to tell his parents. it seems that people are saying that because he came out publicly in one are of his life, that gives the school (or anyone else for that matter) the right to out him somewhere else? i disagree wholeheartedly with that. i am out in all areas of my life, but I get to choose to whom, where and how i come out. i also allow my daughter to choose with whom, how and where she comes out. she has never been out at school and has selected a few friends to be out to, and i fully support her choice. i believe it's the same in this situation, the child knows better than anyone else where he feels safe. i believe they could talk to the parents about the bullying and even the content of the bullying without confirming or denying the child's sexuality. they could approach it from the standpoint that the child is being bullied based on other children's perception of him (it doesn't matter whether the perception is accurate), and make a plan for safety based on that. i think that what the school did was better than sticking their heads in the sand, and i think the outcome would've been greatly improved if they had contacted an lgbt group like glsen prior to taking action. hopefully they will take this as a learning/growth experience and see it as an opportunity to do better next time.