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“It’s kind of a silent way of saying that there’s a safe space for them.”
“I think there’s definitely a need for that flag to be there,” said Christina Wills, Tai’s mom. A recent survey from the Trevor Project, a national nonprofit focused on suicide prevention in LGBTQ youth, found that more than 40% of LGBTQ youth seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year, including more than half of transgender and nonbinary youth. Numerous studies show that LGBTQ teens struggle with their mental health. “Seeing those flags … it means a lot to them and I do believe it does save lives.” “My friends don’t have supportive parents like I do,” Tai said. Tai is completing school virtually this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic but said she and her friends were bullied last year “because of who we are.” They're supposed to be stood up for and you expect that, so it's definitely very frustrating to see. that they're not." "You trust the school with your children and it's supposed to be, you know, a safe place. “It’s literally just human rights, equal rights. “They consider it political propaganda, when it’s not,” Wills said. Wills’ daughter, Tai, is a sophomore at Pendleton Heights and identifies as bisexual. 'Just human rights, equal rights'Ī pride flag shouldn’t be seen as political, though, said James Wills. Board President Bill Hutton took notes as they spoke and said he would take their comments under advisement.
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#Why is there no gay flag professional#
The district does have a policy prohibiting professional staff members from “using their position … for partisan political or sectarian religious purposes.”Īt a meeting of the school board Thursday night, several South Madison families raised the issue and asked the district to reconsider. Hall did not respond to follow-up questions about what laws require teachers to maintain “viewpoint neutrality.” Teachers are legally obligated to maintain viewpoint neutrality during their official duties to ensure all students can focus on learning, and we can maintain educational activities and school operations.” “We pride ourselves on creating an environment that is welcoming to all. “South Madison School Corporation welcomes and celebrates all its students and does not tolerate harassment or discrimination based on any protected class,” Superintendent Mark Hall wrote in an email to IndyStar. South Madison Community Schools officials say that the district isn’t anti-LGBTQ but that teachers are supposed to remain neutral and not engage in political speech.
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Inclusion effort: As pushback on Carmel schools' diversity efforts continues, supporters speak up at meeting “We’re tired of having people act like our feelings don’t matter, like our mental health doesn’t matter.” “We’re tired of having so little representation,” he said. Having it prohibited, he said, has been upsetting. Seeing the rainbow stripes of the pride flag made him and his friends feel seen. It’s not easy being gay in a small Indiana town, Bryce said. I knew we had an ally here at the school.” “I remember walking by her classroom, glancing at it and just being happy. “She had it right on the wall so when you were passing by and looking into her room you could see it. “As a freshman, I remember walking by (a teacher’s) classroom,” Bryce said. He had hoped for several dozen supporters - he had received nearly 3,000 signatures as of Thursday morning. Students at Pendleton Heights High School are asking their district to reconsider its policies after several teachers were told to remove pride flags from their classrooms last month.īryce Axel-Adams, a junior at Pendleton, started an online petition to allow the flags to be displayed again. Watch Video: Indiana Youth Group has a new home to help young LGBTQ Hoosiers