FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEWVILLE, PA – Board members of a rural Cumberland County school district voted in alignment with Equal Access laws Monday night, officially ushering in a Gay-Straight Alliance for students attending Big Spring High School (BSHS) with a 4-3 vote.
Despite a contentious hour-long public debate between students, teachers, and parents, Big Spring’s GSA will now join the ranks of thousands of other similar organizations across the country aimed to provide safe havens for LGBTQ-identifying youth and their heterosexual allies.
A recent BSHS graduate remarked that “There is bullying that goes on in our school. The difference that this club makes is that students have a place to go to after it happened.” She went on further to explain, “I can’t learn when I have people are giving me death threats – and bullying me to the point when I cannot concentrate. Yes, it was that bad – in this school. All I ask is that you give us this club.”
Newville, in the heart of a notoriously conservative region of Pennsylvania, made an admirable step toward progress Monday evening, demonstrating a crowd turn-out of about 150 people, more than half of whom donned rainbow pins expressing their support for the LGBTQ community. The implied sentiments of these pins were echoed in emotion-evoking speeches by parents and concerned residents. Supporters and PSEC leaders attended the meeting from area GSAs including York and Shippensburg, and Philadelphia and Chester County as well.
There were ample hate-filled remarks made against LGBTQ students at the meeting. With a strong contrast between the GSA supporters were mostly students, parents, and faculty and those opposed as mainly local residents from outside the school.
The remarks of one adult male presented deeply held fundamentalist and hateful views shared by other speakers that “when America was started, the church and the school where one…To allow a homosexual group to have a meeting in a public school is morally wrong.” He asked, “should taxpayers be forced to pay for these activities, where they have to pay for the electricity of the room they meet in?…And furthermore, how many Sanduskys will be formed because of this group? You allow this club to take place; the blame will be at your feet.”
Sherri Mains, the BSHS Counseling Department Chair and a graduate of the school, was the final speaker of the evening and directly challenged the school board. “We started a support group for students that were struggling with issues. We saw this and it came out of the need. My counseling ethics. My Christian compassion. My love for my students…they [need] this club. If you vote it down tonight I will still continue to support my students. So will my colleagues.”
Many BSHS students were quite overjoyed after the vote and celebrated in the school hallways with fellow supporters. With a newly elected GSA President, the group looks forward to a productive fall working to support students and community awareness.
The Pennsylvania Student Equality Coalition (PSEC), which is comprised of GSA organizations across the state, is thrilled to welcome the Big Spring GSA as the newest addition to the growing number of brave LGBTQ youth assemblies in the commonwealth.
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