If I were to tell you that there was an all-girls public school, or an all-boys, or an all-black, or an all-white, you would start to tell me that it is racist, sexist, or at least, some form of unconstitutional. I would tell you, frankly, that I agreed. Schools designed to be separate are inherently not equal, or so Brown V. Board said. This means that congress, and the states/local forces via the 14th, can not create separate - “but equal” - schools.
That said, Chicago decided that gays were not a protected class... well, at least that is what it looks like
So, the city of Chicago, and its amazing school district, decided to create a school that specializes in gays. While this is borderline Unconstitutional, it seems as though the fact that it is not gay-only (just friendly) means that it will pass the court cases. Regardless of the need for this, regardless of the money used, regardless of the precedent set, I see this, frankly, as a horrible move. So, a small group of students are harmed by another small group of students and the end result is a brand new school, dedicated (though, carefully not limited) to the first small group. Great, where are the schools for every clique, every group, every minority, hell, every person, in this country? The idea of isolating (giving an option) to a group of kids merely because THEIR TEACHERS ARE FAILING TO PROTECT THEM shows a fallacy in the system. Chicago is treating the symptom, not the problem.
I think that the school district needs to consider this idea far more. Besides the creation of new precedent, this is positionally a large step for America. Plus, this happens to help the GOP come early November. Sometimes I wish that people do stuff like this on odd numbered years. Anyways, I think that the school district needs to step back, look at the problem (what percentage of gay kids are harmed by what percentage of straight kids), see other ways to fix it that both actually handle it and that save the district money, and then act on it. Hell, maybe this new school actually will cause more students to be harmed due to the fact that they will easily be identifiable as gay. Plus, this school pretty much requires you to come out, and for gay students with conservative parents, this could be a major issue.
My last issue with the school is the fact that it seems to focus on homosexuality. How about, instead of building one school to focus on gays throughout history and literature, you make all of your schools have a strong sexuality unit. Have classes (optional) on sexuality through literature and history and have required ones that teach actually sexuality. Have the schools focus on teen sex, AIDS, issues facing all Americans (pregnancy, abortion, gays, etc), and all of that. Instead of making one school to focus on homosexuality, make all of their schools focus on human sexuality. After all, isn't the point of these sorts of schools to show that gays are no different than heteros, and making sexuality based on this issue, just harms their point.
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