From: jakec@ralvmm.vnet.ibm.com (Jake Coughlin)
Newsgroups: soc.motss
Subject: Re: Outed at my high school (anonymous post)
Date: 14 Apr 92 19:41:25 GMT
Organization: IBM T. J. Watson Research
Originator: jakec@ralvmm.vnet.ibm.com

i don't mean to pick on you, john, and my response to your post
is not meant as a flame.

ACM022@Zeus.unomaha.edu (John Dorrance):
> This is awful. I'd kill. Barring that, I'd find a good lawyer-type civil-
> rights group (ACLU? b'nai brith? I don't know a lot about legal matters)
> and ask them if you'd be able to do something about this while preserving
> your anonymity. What they did was totally unfair. Well, maybe not the
> denying access to the modem, but...

your post takes a very direct approach to the situation -- "i'd kill";
"find a lawyer"; "get a better modem."  these are solutions for adults,
but you need to remember that the anonymous poster is only 17 years
old.  he's legally a minor, and more importantly, he's still dependent
on his parents for food, clothing, shelter, and upcoming college.

frankly, i don't see a practical solution to this poor guy's situation
so i wouldn't even worry about it right now.  i think he's far too
young to be standing tall and making a statement, especially given that
his parents are not supportive.  rather, what's more important is the
young man himself, and how he's going to cope within this situation.
once he's nolonger dependent on his family and community, he can come
back and make whatever stand needs to be made against these ignorant
fools.

first of all, i find the action of the shop teacher to be utterly
despicable assuming that the "flirtatious" material were indeed
"flirtatious" and not pornographic.  (if the material were
pornographic, i don't think we can make a case that the school's
resources should not have been used.)  part of me can understand that
in this religious community, gay flirtation would be viewed as
inappropriate, but this isn't really the issue.  the issue is that this
teacher then showed the material to people who had no need of it and
who should not have been involved, namely the librarians.  releasing
the material to his superior would be standard practice, limiting the
exposure to the student, the shop teacher, and someone in authority,
but releasing the material to his peers is completely reprehensible.

however, the shop teacher compromised the privacy of the student,
and consequently, the student has now been outed to his teachers,
principal, and perhaps his parents and the other students (this was
not clear).  i would ask then how the young man feels now.  does
he feel more isolated?  does he feel he deserves to be reprimanded?
what support structure exists for him now?

>> What do you think?
> 
> I just can't get over how unfair this is! BEH!!!

yes, it *is* unfair.  i consider that if the flirtation had been a
young man to a young woman, the shop teacher would probably have read
the note lovingly, remembering a nostalgic love affair that he had in
high school.  but, the flirtation was a young man to a young man, and
in the teacher's context, it was perversion.  i can't help but *loathe*
ignorant people who stifle ideas that are outside of their context, and
sometimes i think i'll hate until humanity realizes that it isn't so
oppressed.
-- 
Jason Coughlin ( jakec@ralvmm.vnet.ibm.com )
Queer Without A Cause!
"I find myself suddenly in the world, and I recognize that I have one
right alone: that of demanding human behavior of the other." -- Fanon