KIRKWOOD, MO (KTVI - FOX2now.com) -
Students at Kirkwood High School are lobbying their school board to change the district's anti-discrimination policy. It prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, gender, national orientation, ancestry, disability or age. But it leaves out sexual orientation. And students want those words added. Monday night, they marched down a hallway at North Kirkwood Middle School, where the school board met to accommodate the large crowd.
"The whole school year lead up to this, tonight," said senior Ryan Schuessler. While the meeting in their gym was their destination, the real destination in their hearts was change.
"I mean, we've gone to school with the same people for 12 years and to see some of them treated unfairly just isn't right to us," Schuessler said.
Schuessler works for the student newspaper. He was the first to speak in front of the school board, the first of many to tell school board members why it is time to change district policy. He recalled being in the seventh grade when a classmate told him and others she was gay. "That same day she was harassed," he said. "People say this is not my fight because I'm not gay, but it is our fight. I care because people I care about are suffering."
2008 Kirkwood High School graduate Meghan Hickerson told the school board she lived that kind of discrimination. "Once word got out that I am a lesbian, I would walk down a hall, any hall, and it would part like the Red Sea, like I was contagious," she said. "I was ostracized; I didn't have a lot of friends. The problem is still there."
Former Kirkwood High School principal Franklin McCallie read a letter he received from an old student who applauded past efforts to change the same policy, while revealing sad details about his high school experience.
"He was gay and hated every day of his KHS existence," said McCallie, "he was regularly pushed, tripped, and called names. He considered suicide four times as a KHS student."
Schuessler and others worked with the high school's Gay Straight Alliance to gather 940 signatures on a petition. They presented it to the school board Monday night, requesting "sexual orientation" be added to the district's anti-discrimination policy. They believe policy can help change behavior. "You can't end discrimination with two words, but you can really show we will not stand for this," said senior Andy Gaglio, the co-president of the Gay Straight Alliance. "Those two words, on paper, fortified in our policy, would be huge in trying to get rid of the ignorance, and the bigotry, and the hate that exists."
His co-president, Matt Dumke, told the board the policy change would make a difference. "I know that I want to feel safe and I want to feel equal," he said.
Gaglio says he endures intolerance daily.
"It's not acceptable. It's about time for people to realize words have meaning. Sticks and stones and words, they all hurt."
The students were backed Monday night by St. Louis's gay rights advocacy group "Show Me No Hate". Ed Reggi said he was impressed with the students' determination. "When we put words in our policies, things do change," he said.
The district only considers policy changes once a year. So at the May meeting, the petition and comments heard Monday night will be discussed. St. Louis City schools adopted a policy including sexual orientation in November. Kansas City's policy includes it, too.
"The whole school year lead up to this, tonight," said senior Ryan Schuessler. While the meeting in their gym was their destination, the real destination in their hearts was change.
"I mean, we've gone to school with the same people for 12 years and to see some of them treated unfairly just isn't right to us," Schuessler said.
Schuessler works for the student newspaper. He was the first to speak in front of the school board, the first of many to tell school board members why it is time to change district policy. He recalled being in the seventh grade when a classmate told him and others she was gay. "That same day she was harassed," he said. "People say this is not my fight because I'm not gay, but it is our fight. I care because people I care about are suffering."
2008 Kirkwood High School graduate Meghan Hickerson told the school board she lived that kind of discrimination. "Once word got out that I am a lesbian, I would walk down a hall, any hall, and it would part like the Red Sea, like I was contagious," she said. "I was ostracized; I didn't have a lot of friends. The problem is still there."
Former Kirkwood High School principal Franklin McCallie read a letter he received from an old student who applauded past efforts to change the same policy, while revealing sad details about his high school experience.
"He was gay and hated every day of his KHS existence," said McCallie, "he was regularly pushed, tripped, and called names. He considered suicide four times as a KHS student."
Schuessler and others worked with the high school's Gay Straight Alliance to gather 940 signatures on a petition. They presented it to the school board Monday night, requesting "sexual orientation" be added to the district's anti-discrimination policy. They believe policy can help change behavior. "You can't end discrimination with two words, but you can really show we will not stand for this," said senior Andy Gaglio, the co-president of the Gay Straight Alliance. "Those two words, on paper, fortified in our policy, would be huge in trying to get rid of the ignorance, and the bigotry, and the hate that exists."
His co-president, Matt Dumke, told the board the policy change would make a difference. "I know that I want to feel safe and I want to feel equal," he said.
Gaglio says he endures intolerance daily.
"It's not acceptable. It's about time for people to realize words have meaning. Sticks and stones and words, they all hurt."
The students were backed Monday night by St. Louis's gay rights advocacy group "Show Me No Hate". Ed Reggi said he was impressed with the students' determination. "When we put words in our policies, things do change," he said.
The district only considers policy changes once a year. So at the May meeting, the petition and comments heard Monday night will be discussed. St. Louis City schools adopted a policy including sexual orientation in November. Kansas City's policy includes it, too.
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