Bill Johnson: 'H' word drives smart people dumb

In the end, they will probably do something dumb. Again.

I'm betting they will outlaw all high school clubs on campus or, worse, put an end to all extracurricular activities. This cue they will take directly from school administrators in Utah who not long ago did precisely that when the "H'' word surfaced there.

Homosexual. How amazing it is, the way the word continues to make grown, even well-educated people behave. How it blinds and contorts them, shakes them to their very core. How when they see it, read it or hear it, moral, First Amendment and other rights suddenly become mere suggestions to be simply ignored or tossed out like last night's bath water.

So my money is on Cherry Creek Public Schools' compounding its foolishness in defense of a federal lawsuit filed last week by a group of students at Smoky Hill High School over the district's refusal to grant their group, which supports gay rights, official club status on campus.

The students call their group the Homosexual-Heterosexual Alliance Reaching for Tolerance, or HHART. The goal, the kids say, is to enhance the education of the public, promote tolerance for diversity and provide social support for one another. All of which, you'd imagine, the school believes is a good thing.

And it probably does. All of it except for the first word in the group's name.

Would Smoky Hill administrators recommend that a Heterosexual Alliance Reaching for Tolerance be assigned a mental health professional who would involve the students and parents and promote sexual abstinence? HHART was, the kids' lawsuit says.

Would administrators forbid a Heterosexual Alliance from using on posters the words heterosexual and straight? Would they see the line "To thine own self be true'' on a poster as anything other than a witty use of Shakespeare? And would they refuse the usual stipends for group activities and events, or the same access to the public-address system given other clubs?

Julie Tolleson, executive director of the Denver-based Colorado Legal Initiatives Project, which filed the suit on behalf of the six students, five parents and a Smoky Hill teacher, says it's a classic confrontation between the culture of diversity being promoted by the students and a culture of fear that so grips both parents and school administrators.

It has blinded them to the real harm, she says, being visited upon the 25-member group. "To be treated as second-class citizens or suspect translates into all kinds of problems,'' she says. "It sends a message that these are fringe, mentally unstable kids and that there is something wrong with what they're doing.''

The club's purpose has nothing to do with sex or promoting homosexuality, Tolleson says. But that's how the issue has been framed. Rather, its purpose is to educate peers about social tolerance, the benefits of diversity and the social world in which they live. "How anyone would want to discourage that is a complete mystery,'' she says.

Which is why the students filed suit. "We just believe it's in everyone's interest to get clarification of what their rights are,'' Tolleson says.

The school district, saying it hasn't seen the suit, refuses to comment on it. Its last offer to settle the issue, which the students rejected, Tolleson says, was allowing the group to use only its acronym on posters.

Dumb. Again.

Rocky Mountain News, January 24, 1998

Gay rights group is about caring, parent says
Opponent: Club status would imply school approval of homosexuality

By Brian Weber
Rocky Mountain News Education Writer

Gary Graham resisted when his straight daughter Christie wanted to join a gay rights group.

"I was afraid she'd be persecuted,'' he said.

Christie Graham persisted. She reminded her dad of how hurt he's been when people mocked his oversized nose. Gays are treated that way every day, she argued.

"You have to make it relate to the person,'' said Graham, 16, a junior at Smoky Hill High School in Aurora.

Gary Graham was so moved he joined his daughter in a lawsuit filed Thursday to force the Cherry Creek School District to give official club status to Christie's group -- the Homosexual-Heterosexual Alliance Reaching for Tolerance, or HHART.

"These kids care a lot about each other,'' Graham said. "That's what this group is about.''

The Grahams are two of 12 plaintiffs that include six HHART members, five parents and faculty sponsor Linda Harmon. They are represented by Colorado Legal Initiatives Project, a nonprofit group that works on gay legal issues.

The Cherry Creek district recognizes student organizations that are directly related to course work, said Joanne Lanman, a district spokeswoman. That status gives such perks as yearbook pictures, more attention on public address announcements and more posters.

HHART does not meet the district club definition, Lanman said. The district had not seen the lawsuit Friday and had no comment, she said. Club status would acknowledge the growing need for education and tolerance of gay issues, said students, parents and teachers involved in the suit.

"They want the legitimacy,'' said Harmon, who teaches consumer and family studies.

"It was too big a struggle with everything we wanted to do,'' Harmon added. "I hope this will simply clarify where we are in the scheme of things.''

Smoky Hill parent Barb Filner said HHART wants to do more than other clubs, such as advocate positions on public address announcements.

Filner, one of a half dozen parents who objected to the club status, said said official club designation would make it appear that the school approves of homosexuality, an action she believes would be inappropriate.

"My true feeling is that this is something that should be handled in the home first,'' she said. "We need to teach reading, writing, arithmetic, back to basics.''

HHART members said gay students are called names and become the subjects of jokes.

A flier was circulating Friday with a picture of two students dressed strangely that read: "Be like us. Join HHART.''

The school assigned a counselor to the group, which members saw as a message they were "sick.''

"Even though I'm not gay you can feel it from the kids,'' Christie Graham said. "It's an odd topic and no one wants to face it, and now they have to.''

HHART has about two dozen members, about half of them straight. One is Andrea Ward, a junior.

"What appealed to me was trying to reach for tolerance,'' she said.

Crystal Worthington, another member, said HHART is a refuge.

"They feel open, and we can talk about any problem,'' she said. "And everyone is understanding.''

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