Segregation Based on Sexuality? (Part 2)

Ok, enough already. We have heard a whole heck of a lot from a bunch of straight people. A friend of mine, who occasionally reads the site hadn’t heard of this issue until visiting my site. See? I am on the cutting edge of news reporting. Anyway, Bill Ennis lives in Philadelphia and is a member of the “gay community.” I asked him if he would like to write something for my site so that I could have a different perspective from my own narrow one, represented here on a daily basis. After reading Bill’s email, I give him a lot of credit for doing better research than I did. So, here is a different perspective.

“So, I definitely took an interest in this issue from the other day. One thing that I was truly surprised by, was the fact that this didn’t seem to be a hotter issue than what I felt it should be in the media. I went ahead and did some research last night and did some of my own thinking on the issue as well.

“The Harvey Milk School, a collaborative effort between The Hetrick-Martin Institute and the New York City Department of Education’s Career Education Center Alternative High School Program, is the nation’s first accredited public high school designed to meet the needs of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and questioning youth (LGBTQ).

The school offers LGBTQ youth an opportunity to obtain a secondary education in a safe and supportive environment. It is the goal of The Hetrick-Martin Institute and the New York City Board of Education that youth enrolled in the Harvey Milk School are challenged to achieve their full potential. The Harvey Milk School strives to develop life-long independent learners by creating a participative educational environment focused on academic excellence, with a special emphasis on arts and technology. Integrating an accredited curriculum with life experience, we seek to incorporate appropriate after school services and the evaluation of their impact. We believe that success requires the ability to respect and value the diverse human community.

The Harvey Milk School offers a High School Diploma Program (HSP), where upon completing the New York City Department of Education requirements for high school graduation, students receive a high school diploma issued through the Career Education Center Alternative High School Program.”

This school is part of a larger institution, The Hetrick-Martin Institute, that is geared to help LGBTQ youth ages 12-21. This organization is not unusual and there is something like this in every major city. HMI is basically a support group for inner-city teens that caters to the gay community, but you don’t have to be gay to go there. The Harvey Milk School is an accredited institution to help inner-city LGBTQ youth from New York City get an education. The kids that get to go to this school are not in anyway shape or form like you & me. These kids have been neglected by their parents & peers for numerous reasons, with the biggest one being because they are gay. These kids are runaways, drug addicts, children of drug addicts, homeless and scared. The Harvey Milk School was established to give these kids a chance in the real world.

These programs exist for all youths, regardless of sexual orientation, all across the country. So, this really isn’t a discriminatory situation. This school is also not some sort of Fancy-Shmancy Prep School, so I do not think the straight kids will be beating down the door to attend (and they probably won’t have a drama class). It is definitely not going to accept Johnny upper-middle class, got made fun of in his private school either. Public Funds are being used so this could be an issue, but I don’t feel that this is a bad use of these funds. It is ultimately up to New York residents as to how these funds are used. You also need to address the fact that the initial information you posted came from the NY Post - not the most reliable news source, in my opinion.

Everybody goes through a moment while growing up where we might feel like a “troubled youth.” Luckily for me I had a loving & nurturing environment in which to deal with those moments. Unfortunately not everyone has that luxury. These programs hopefully can give some comfort to these kids when there is no one else to turn to.”

-Bill Ennis

For the record, the original post was from Fox News, but I sent Bill a link from the NYPost. I wouldn’t consider Fox News to be much better than the NYPost, so the point is taken anyway.

What are your opinions now?

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