Gays lose school policy fight in Wayne-Westland

By Kristin Storey / The Detroit News

Wayne-Westland school officials don't appear in a hurry to reconsider their decision to omit the term "sexual orientation" from harassment policies despite pleas from community members.

"I think the policy is strong enough," Board of Trustees Vice-President Mathew McCusker said at a meeting Monday.

Several people asked board members at the meeting to restore sexual orientation to the policy, but members did not say if the issue would be brought back before the board.

School board members this summer unanimously approved adding specific wording to protect gay and lesbian students from harassment. However, as school board elections approached, it was made public that then-board president Trish Brown is a lesbian, and a campaign was launched against her and the policy's wording.

The board voted 6-1 in August to remove the wording from the policy, but any board member can ask for its return.

"One newspaper account of your actions last month stated that the board had a 'change of heart,'" said Jeffrey Montgomery, president of the Triangle Foundation, a lesbian/gay organization in Detroit. "I would add that it was a change to a colder heart.

"Young people ... can only hear the message in all of this -- that you don't care about them, that you have consigned them to a tortuous existence in the community."

Matt Barton, a senior at Novi High School, argued that more schools should have policies protecting gay students. Barton is not enrolled in the Wayne-Westland district, but he tried to make the board understand the difficulties of being a gay high school student.

"I've had my tires slashed because I'm gay," he said. "I've been called faggot, homo, queer and fairy. But most importantly, I'm human."

Speakers did not threaten or criticize board members, but the Rev. Marge Munger of the United Methodist Church in Canton said after the meeting: "We'll be back; this isn't the end."