St. Paul’s GLBT Club House- aka Discrimination Center
That’s right, St. Paul Taxpayers are paying the bill on this one, a Gay Club House.
A new space for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender teens to meet, study and earn school credit will open next week in St. Paul.
The Safe Space Lab, sponsored by the St. Paul Public Schools and the city of St. Paul Parks and Recreation Department, will give GLBT teens and their friends a safe place to gather and learn, said Alan Horowitz, who directs the schools’ Out for Equity Program, which provides support, training and outreach regarding GLBT youth in the schools.
Is this a gay only facility? Isn’t that discriminating?
Horowitz said he has heard from people worried that Out for Equity is somehow promoting a GLBT agenda.
“We’re not asking for special rights here. We’re just trying to support one group of the population,” he said. “In public schools, there is a whole gamut of people. And it’s our job to provide support and respect for all of them.”
Oh, so you just want to be kept away from everyone else? Have your own place to go where only other people like you go. So you can all understand each other? That sounds very familiar for some reason. That in fact kind of sounds like traditional marriage. How about that?
“I think it’s important for them to have aspirations for college and to make sure there is a safe place where they can feel safe for their academics,” he said.
Oh, so you mean preferential treatment? I got it now.
Word has it that Maple Grove will soon be offering a white heterosexual male after school club next year. That’s a joke, but why not? Why can’t every single group in society have their very own PUBLICALLY FUNDED private club house? Noty allowing everyone to have it is DISCRIMINATION!!!!!
The article does say “Any interested St. Paul teen may use the center, Horowitz said. All students must go through a screening process that includes orientation and a pledge to follow the center’s rules.” I can see how Minneapolis teens may feel discrimination because they aren’t from St. Paul, but anyone can use it. And there are plenty of publicly funded groups that discriminate.
The Boy Scouts are a prime example, it may not be all white, but it’s definitely all heterosexual male: “The Boy Scouts enjoys massive and unique tax-funded support from governments both local and federal. On the local level, for example, the city of San Diego was targeted because it allowed the Boy Scouts’ headquarters to operate in a city-owned park for $1 per year and to use other city-owned facilities without any rent. On the federal level, the Pentagon provided an estimated $6 to $8 million from 1997 to 2001 to assist a Boy Scouts Jamboree — an event which is traditionally held on military bases.” http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,164547,00.html
It is advertised as gay only. IE heterosexuals need not apply.
I hear the proponents of gay marriage claim disrimination all the time, but this time the shoe is on the other foot, isn’t it?
On another note, why should the city taxpayers pay for another city’s kids?
I’m not entirely polished on my boy scouts, but I do not remember being asked what sexual preference I had. The children are with out any judgement, ALL are welcome. To be a boy scout in NO way means that you are straight.
Are you trying to imply that the boy scouts do absolutely no public good? Would you like to see them banned from fair (i do mean fair) and equal use of public facilities? Did you know that one of the reasons that the Marines support the boy scouts is that many of their kids are in the boy scouts?
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110005946
“But so what? The military earns a lot of public goodwill and A.P. Hill’s soldiers learn a thing or two in helping to put up a temporary city and police 35,000 energetic teenage males. The Army even comes out ahead financially. The Scouts expect to spend $29 million on next year’s Jamboree–and that’s on top of the $12 million or more that they’ve already put into the base’s permanent infrastructure. The military and other civilian groups make use of those facilities when the Scouts aren’t there, which is all but nine days every four years.”
Hum, now what?
Out for Equity, and the Safe Space Lab, are intended for use for glbt students and their friends.
We have a good mix of all sexual orientations at our events.
Imagine trying to help another subset of students (Hmong students, or special ed students) and receiving comments that you’re discriminating because you’re trying to address an entire populations differences in learning styles. Whether you approve of homosexuality or not, due to constant teasing and harassment these students grades suffer – we’re trying to help them.
Trust me – I work there.
Good for you, I mean that.
But should ANY special group receive preferential treatment at the taxpayer’s expense like this?
Just look at the attacks that teh boy scouts are under. They do the same sort of thing as you claim to be doing. Helping kids with confidence. Self esteem. Provide them with the tools to get through life.
SHOULD THERE BE SCOUTING SHELTERS SET UP ON PUBLIC GROUNDS AT TAXPAYER”S EXPENSE?
I wish these people wouldn’t be teased, but I don’t know how much better it will make them to have some place to run to all the time. They are living a life that is different from most other people. They can’t turn and run when ever they cross paths with some one who disagrees with them. I’m not advocating discrimination, that is wrong.
If there were a heterosexual only clubhouse like this, the you know what would hit the fan. It would be called discrimintory, and you know it. Why then is it ok for these clubs to single out a specific group?
If I was 17 and walked in saying I was being bullied at school, would you ask me if I was gay before you helped me? If so, it is discriminatory!