EDITORIAL: Allow LGBTQ flags in classrooms
Jun. 12—High school students often have a lot to overcome.
They're just growing into their adult bodies and just beginning to exercise independence. They have anxiety about peers, parents and others.
They sometimes feel hopeless and often sense that they don't belong.
Some are bullied because of their physical appearance or race. Some are ostracized because they have a disability or because they are different in other ways.
Threatened by so many external pressures and internal confusion, teenagers sometimes contemplate suicide. And, more often than in the past, they follow through on the thought.
According to a report released in September 2020 by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the suicide rate among those 10 to 24 years old increased about 60% from 2007 to 2018.
To make sure that all teens know they have support as they deal with life's many challenges, it's important for school administrators and teachers to show they are accepting of diversity and are allies for students who might be targeted because of their differences.
Such support is particularly meaningful for LGBTQ students, who are almost five times more likely than their heterosexual peers to attempt suicide, according to a 2016 CDC report.
That brings us to the controversy over LGBTQ rainbow pride flags in Pendleton Heights High School classrooms.
Last month, school administrators ordered the removal of rainbow flags from classrooms of Spanish, French and art teachers. Administrators said the flags violated the school's "political paraphernalia" policy.
In an emailed statement to students, parents and staff, South Madison School Board President Bill Hutton explained the rationale for removing the rainbow flags.
"If an LGBTQ+ flag is allowed to be displayed, then any other group would have the same ability," Hutton wrote. "That could include such flags as supporting white supremacy, which is in direct conflict with LGBTQ+."
LGBTQ students, including Tai Wills, immediately saw the enormous flaw in that argument.
"Why would you compare a racist flag?" Wills asked. "Those two have nothing to do with each other."
Exactly.
Pendleton Heights senior Bryce Axel-Adams, who has collected more than 4,500 signatures protesting the administration's position, explained at a school board meeting why the flags in Pendleton Heights classrooms are so beneficial to LGBTQ students.
"I know that you can be an ally without flying the flag," he said. "But I never would have known Ms. Dwiggins was an ally if I did not see that flag in her room."
To the school board's credit, members have listened to what LGBTQ students and their allies have to say on the matter. The board is mulling a final decision.
It should be easy: Come down on the side of inclusion and diversity, for the good of all students — particularly for those who might be on the verge of giving up on life.
