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High school for gay students proposed in Chicago
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CHICAGO — Over the past two years, Sarah Wurtz, a lesbian at Lakeview High School, has learned to weather the jeers and stares of students and teachers with a sense of resignation.
“I don’t like people looking at us like we’re doing something completely wrong,” said Wurtz, 17, whose girlfriend attends the same school. “I always feel more comfortable when I’m with people who accept it or are like me.”
If she were to get her wish, it might look something like a proposed new high school that would welcome lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and sexually questioning students, groups that supporters say often face violence and harassment at school. But the plan isn’t likely to become reality before 2012, and that’s only if it passes through the bevy of criticism it faces from both sides of the political spectrum.
Conservatives say the Social Justice High School-Pride Campus would be a misuse of public funds and require administrators to take a moral stance on homosexuality, a judgment well above their pay grade. Even some gay rights advocates argue that isolating the gay and lesbian population from the mainstream would be damaging and prevent different groups of students from learning to interact.
“If we’re going to set up a separate school, let’s put the bullies in the school and not our gays kids,” said Rick Garcia, public policy director of Equality Illinois, the state’s largest gay rights group. “Kids should be able to go to school in a safe environment wherever they are.”
The plan comes from the people who run the Greater Lawndale Little Village High School for Social Justice. They say the new campus would be open to all students, but would especially seek to foster a violence-free atmosphere for students who are often targeted for their sexual orientation. The charter school proposal is still in the early stages. A public hearing is set for Sept. 18, and the proposal requires approval by an evaluation team and then Chicago Public Schools Chief Arne Duncan before it goes before the school board.
“Given how large and diverse we are, I think there’s a niche there,” said Duncan, who spoke favorably of the plan. “I think there will be more gay students in the school then other schools, but I wouldn’t be surprised if less than half of the students are gay.”
New York has a similar high school, named for pioneering San Francisco politician Harvey Milk. Opened in 2003, the school has a student body of less than 100 that is largely African American and Latino. In Chicago, officials expect a school of up to 600 students, and those familiar with project expect a high population of minorities.
The importance of creating a safe environment at least partially stems from the higher risks that gay, lesbian and bisexual students face.
Experts say those kids are at greater risk of dropping out of school, abusing drugs and alcohol and are two to three times more likely to attempt to commit suicide. A 2003 district survey shows that gay and lesbian youth also are three times more likely to miss school because they feel unsafe.
By creating a safe and understanding environment, those kinds of dangerous behaviors could be curbed, said Modesto Tico Valle, the executive director of the Center on Halsted, which serves gay youth.
Beyond that, the school also could provide a leadership environment for teens in the community.
“Having an established institution of individuals who are proud and out will allow us to foster good leaders for the future,” said Valle, who assisted with the proposal.
But conservative critics say that by approving the school, administrators are weighing in on a hot-button issue.
“It necessarily requires public administrators to accept a certain perspective on the nature and morality of homosexuality and I think that’s enormously problematic,” said Laurie Higgins, the director of the division of school advocacy for the Illinois Family Institute. “I think this represent a misuse of public funds.”
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