BOARD SHOULD PROTECT STUDENTS

Perhaps an adolescent hockey player, acting out a misguided bias, has been a boon to discourse in Anchorage. Certainly, many wise and generous words have been used, as well as many thoughtless and hurtful. Altogether, rising to the consciousness of our community is the bare fact that there is an element of intollerance that fights out against fellow citizens.

The school district should be applauded for adopting a policy that permits thee formation of clubs of many kinds through a pattern which protects them from being harmful. The Gay/Straight Alliance students should be congratulated for having the courage and interest to form such a club despite a societal miscoonception about "gayness." Unfortunate as it is, the incident that brought all this to light has acted as a stimulus for understanding the situation.

Now we have an opportunity to examine our school environment to see if this is an isolated happenstance or whether something needs to be done to protect students from unwarranted attack. The educational environment should be free from fear so that energy and attention can be given to the learning process, rather than just protecting oneself. Students should have the freedom that is implicit in the Bill of Rights and its freedom to assemble so that they can form their alliances which cause no harm to others.

Rather than considering dropping the club formation policy, our school board should be directing its attention toward protecting our students.

-- Sylvia Short, Anchorage

KIDS MUST FEEL FREE TO BE

Congratulations to the Daily News editors of Perfect World for printing the letter from the lesbian teenager. Far more important, bravo to the writer for being so brave and speaking out her truth. It saddens me that she chose to remain anonymous, but it's understandable given some of the community's negative reactions to the Gay/Straight Alliance at Dimond High.

As a psychologist, I work with teens of all kinds, of all stripes, and we all know that being a teenager is hard enough. For any lesbian or gay teen to have to live in fear for being who they are is a gravely sad reflection on our intolerant, fearful community. Kids and adults must feel free to be who they are, no matter what their outlook.

-- Sally Schliesmann, Ph.D clinical psychologist, Anchorage