As usual, you make a good point.... but honestly, there is no gray area here in this man's logic. He doesn't want ANY support to be available(because you have to admit there will be some kids who CANNOT talk to their parents about their sexuality), and he doesn't want there to be any repercussions inherent to mistreating a gay student precisely because they are gay.
You have to understand, when it comes to people like Grothman, I find it -very- hard to see their stances and actions as being noble or in any way altruistic. They're deeply prejudiced against the demographic in question, and that comes before any feigned concern for the POV of parents and such. Though they'll certainly use that as an excuse.
The simple fact is that if you're gay, you're not gonna magically only be gay after turning 18. My best friend since Kindergarten is gay, and he tore himself to pieces over this fact throughout his entire childhood, because he didn't think he could talk to ANYONE about it, and was afraid of what would happen if he did. I believe a counselor for just such an issue being available to him at the time would've made a world of difference.
Bottom line: students shouldn't be denied support they may need just because their parents would rather just pretend there's no such thing as gay people... or worse, would rather their child just bury it and live a lie. When it comes to doing the right thing, you can't hold back just to spare peoples' feelings.
I could understand if said counselors had a tendency to urge kids to confront their parents about it, but I'm fairly certain that isn't something they tend to do.
As usual, you make a good point.... but honestly, there is no gray area here in this man's logic. He doesn't want ANY support to be available(because you have to admit there will be some kids who CANNOT talk to their parents about their sexuality), and he doesn't want there to be any repercussions inherent to mistreating a gay student precisely because they are gay.
You have to understand, when it comes to people like Grothman, I find it -very- hard to see their stances and actions as being noble or in any way altruistic. They're deeply prejudiced against the demographic in question, and that comes before any feigned concern for the POV of parents and such. Though they'll certainly use that as an excuse.
The simple fact is that if you're gay, you're not gonna magically only be gay after turning 18. My best friend since Kindergarten is gay, and he tore himself to pieces over this fact throughout his entire childhood, because he didn't think he could talk to ANYONE about it, and was afraid of what would happen if he did. I believe a counselor for just such an issue being available to him at the time would've made a world of difference.
Bottom line: students shouldn't be denied support they may need just because their parents would rather just pretend there's no such thing as gay people... or worse, would rather their child just bury it and live a lie. When it comes to doing the right thing, you can't hold back just to spare peoples' feelings.
I could understand if said counselors had a tendency to urge kids to confront their parents about it, but I'm fairly certain that isn't something they tend to do.
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