Officials Criticize Tennessee High School Student Chris Bauman Request To Form Gay And Lesbian Support Group

In Tennessee, a student’s request to form a gay and lesbian support group at school has raised objections from local officials in Wilson County. The student, Wilson Central High School senior Chris Bauman, says the recent suicides of two Tennessee teenagers who were bullied for being gay and the ongoing state legislative debate about what teachers can say to students about sexuality illustrate the need for the club. With a list of students ready to join and teachers offering to sponsor, he is frustrated that the application has gone nowhere for a month. “The feeling I had from them today was that they want me to stop and let it fade away,” he said after speaking to the school’s principal on Wednesday, reports The Tennessean. One Wilson school board member, who also is a school resource officer with the sheriff’s office, raised religious objections. “That’s not saying anything negative toward those people, that I’m any more valuable than they are,” school board member Greg Lasater said. “They’ve got a right to education just like the normal, the regular ‘John Doe’ kid out here would have. If I had to vote, just from my own Christian values — nothing against those folks — it would be hard for me as a board member to support it.” Hedy Weinberg, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee, said the Equal Access Act of 1984 protects gay and lesbian student clubs that want to organize. School districts, if they allow clubs at all, must allow all kinds. “If there is a French club and a chess club, the school cannot prohibit a (gay and lesbian) club, a Republican club or a jazz club from organizing,” Weinberg said. Bauman, who is openly gay, said he submitted the application at the beginning of the spring semester and included a list of students hoping to join. School administrators did not respond, so he started asking them why. The request went up the chain from the school’s principal to Director of Schools Mike Davis and finally to the county attorney for review. Davis said he does not see how the proposed club would add value to the school. He also said he doesn’t want exclusive clubs. The Fellowship of Christian Athletes, for instance, is open to non-athletes, he said. “There are some students who believe their sexual orientation is gay or lesbian, and there are kids who believe that they’re not,” Davis said. “I don’t know that that’s something we can address at the public school level.” By singling out the request, the Wilson County school system is contributing to a negative atmosphere for gay and lesbian students, according to Brad Palmertree, spokesman for the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network of Middle Tennessee. “It’s one thing for a student to hear negative remarks from their peers or maybe a teacher in the classroom, but it’s another thing for administrators to be treating their efforts in such a negative light that they have to seek legal counsel.” Bauman says he sees bullying against gay and lesbian students in his school. The school’s principal said she hasn’t had any complaints of bullying against gay and lesbian students since she became principal in January. Other school districts have come under criticism for not responding to bullying against gay students. In January, Phillip Parker Jr., 14, an eighth-grader at Gordonsville High School in Smith County, killed himself. Family members said he was bullied because he was gay. In December, Cheatham County High School senior Jacob Rogers, 18, killed himself after having similar troubles. Clubs like the one Bauman wants to start can have a positive impact on schools, Palmertree said. Active clubs tend to result in less bullying.