Wanna see how conservative teens treat lesbians?

[Selatius]

Kerry Pacer was used to the whispering behind her back, the name-calling and the snickering when she walked down the hall. But when almost the entire student body at White County High School booed as she accepted a rose from a female friend during a Valentine's Day (news - web sites) program last month, she knew it was time to do something.

Pacer, who said she has never tried to hide the fact that she is a lesbian, did what other gay students in schools across the country have been doing for more than a decade. The 16-year-old junior began trying to organize a chapter of the Gay-Straight Alliance, which promotes tolerance and acceptance of homosexuals.

But in White County, a hub of Christian conservatism in the north Georgia mountains, the idea of a school-based group backing homosexuality caused an uproar and thrust this quiet haven, where Cabbage Patch dolls originated, into the national gay-rights debate.

"There has always been a lot of bullying at school, and there was never anyone to stand up for me," said Pacer, explaining that she and other gay students felt a Gay-Straight Alliance club would promote understanding. "I knew there would be people who disagreed with it, but I had no idea it would grow this big."

With heightened national attention on family values as championed by Christian conservatives, students such as Pacer said they have felt pressure to keep their sexual orientation hidden, particularly in Bible Belt states where many people believe homosexuality is a sin. Those attitudes were manifested last November when voters in 11 states approved constitutional amendments banning gay marriage.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/chitribts/20050313/ts_chicagotrib/highschoolgaysgetaharshlesson

What's today's lesson, boys and girls? Remember that hatred is something that is learned.

[bluestateguy]

1. People pass their hate on to their kids

Just when you think you can rest easy when all the homophobes get old and die, they will be replaced by a new generation .

I am confident that there will be fewer homophobes in the next 20-30 years, but there will certainly still be some.

[Branjor]

2. Great article, thanks for posting....

Rate it UP.

[RoBear]

3. I have a minor disagreement.

I think it goes less to being conservative--which used to be an honest thing to be--and more to the perversion of religion. This is exactly why I will never set foot inside a church again except for family funerals, and that only out of respect to immediate family survivors. I want no part of their hate-filled agenda. Anymore, when I hear of virulent hatred being preached, I think, "Hmm, must be Christians."

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

4. My heart...

Goes out to that poor young woman. I hope she makes it, succeeds and prevails, so she has a time where she can rub their noses in their shit.

[Selatius]

5. I'm sorry, I gotta excerpt this for you all:

"I just don't think it's right to have a club like this. It ain't in the Bible," said Gary Colwell, 18, a brick mason who grew up in the area. "We see them walking around holding hands, and it makes everybody feel uncomfortable."

Can you believe this? Trying to shove the Bible down others' throats without letting them choose to listen to it or ignore it. Wasn't it God who gave us not only the gift of free will but also the gift of thought and reason in order to come to a decision?

[Anakin Skywalker]

7. Why Should He Feel Uncomfortable?

I just don't get it. He must have some kind of a hang-up.

[Gusto md]

8. So I'm not up on my bible study for this week.....

But doesn't this passage make reference to allowing homosexuality? If it's in the bible, God must allow it....that's how it work's, doesn't it??

Jonathan and David - (1 Samuel 18:1, 3 - 4). "And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul. And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David, and his garments, even to his sword and to his bow and to his girdle." Also Ruth's relationship with Naomi is suspect, (Ruth 1:16-17) "And Ruth said to Naomi, Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the Lord do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part three and me."

[Babel_17]

6. I now think of The Bible Belt as The Bitter Belt

Such a history of pain and hardship in that region and the worst part is that their leaders are masters of holding up scapegoats instead of doing the real work of reform.

They can't offer optimism but they can offer hate. What a terrible cycle of repression and misery.