A Washington Post story on the beginning of classes at New York's Harvey Milk High School demonstrates why the first public school for gay youth is needed -- despite the criticism that it's a "segregated" approach to protecting gay kids (as voiced in some articles posted on this site). As David Mensah, head of an advocacy group for gay youth, tells the Post: "There could and must be more efforts to ensure the safety and security of all children within the community, but while we are working on that, there have to be solutions for those kids who are being victimized today." The enrolled students represent a tiny fraction of gay students in the New York public school system -- but these are the "nonconforming kids" who are particularly at risk.
The Post also quotes Dino Portalatin, a student who rarely went to classes at his old school, feeling he'd be "better off dead than having to deal with the constant harassment and fights." After transferring to the Harvey Milk program that was a precursor to the new school, he not only graduated on time but was class valedictorian. "If not for Harvey Milk I'm sure I'd either be dead or working some burger-flipping job," he said.
While I prefer privatization and choice in education to
government approaches, sometimes we have to deal with the solutions
that are presently available. Of course, creating a safe
environment for all gay kids trapped in government schools
should be the goal. But in the meantime the answer isn't
to adhere slavishly to the "separate but equal is not equal" line
and thus keep the most at-risk kids stuck in public high-school
hell until some massive sensitivity training can be administered by
education bureaucrats and the unionized, can't-ever-fire-'em
teachers' corps. That, frankly, is pie-in-the-sky idealism. So I'm
for a real-politik, modestly government-funded approach that can be
put into place here and now for those most in need.