High school newspaper column sparks controversy

[digonswine]

SHAWANO, Wis. -- A gay couple with school-age children is outraged over a column in a local high school newspaper that cites Bible passages and calls homosexuality a sin punishable by death.

The column ran on the editorial page of Shawano High School's Hawks Post recently as part of an opinion package about gay families who adopt children. There was an opposing column saying sexual orientation does not determine a person's ability to raise kids.

More info--

Articles in USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-01-15/gay-parenting-shawano/52567228/1?csp=hf

Local Paper
http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/section/GPG01

and the school paper article here
http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/assets/pdf/U0183892114.PDF

The aforementioned gay couple are not the only ones upset. This is my school district-quite conservative. I'm sure there are just as many that are privately pleased as those that are upset.

[William769]

1. Sorry to say this does not surprise me.

I got into a physical altercation this morning about marriage equality and of all places a fucking meeting for local Democrats!

Sorry I don't want to hijack your thread just had to get that off my chest.

[digonswine]

2. Yes-not surprising-

Poor, poor judgement on the part of the teacher that oversees the paper. The principal was ticked and knew nothing about it.

Edit to add---sorry to hear about the scuffle. I hope your are OK.

[zbdent]

3. usually the controversy of what the school papers are allowed to print

is when they do something liberal ...

what's surprising (to me) is that they had a balancing column ...

[digonswine]

5. I would not quite call the other column "balancing."

It did not go into the morality of homosexuals adopting--it seemed to simply state facts(which is good) in a way that advocated for the children of the adopting parents. There was no real reply to the concept that homosexuals should be put to death.

[justiceischeap]

4. What really pisses me off about people who spout bible verses condemning homosexuality

is their lack of context. I don't expect all folks to take in context but if you're going to use the bible as a reference for journalism, then at least use the bible in context. I think enough folks have studied the issue and come to the conclusion, if you want to listen, that homosexuality in the bible isn't really about homosexuality at all, it's about using sex as a weapon--basically, rape. There was a practice back then that to humiliate your opponent after war, the soldiers would rape the men--hence the whole laying with man as woman being bad. There's a passage in the New Testament where Jesus talks about men being "born eunuch." If you are born without a desire for women, one could infer that Jesus is talking about us 'mo's. There's another story in the New Testament about Jesus healing a Roman solider's male lover (who was also a slave). There's yet another story about 2 men in the bible (David & Jonathan, I believe) who were clearly lovers. And of course, Naomi & Ruth. So the evidence is within the bible that gays weren't condemned at all, if you want to take things into context and interpret the ancient language as it was meant to be. I mean, the word homosexual wasn't introduced into any bible until 1953 because there is no word in the ancient language that means homosexual. Sorry, diatribe over.

[digonswine]

6. What really pisses me off are-

bigots spouting their hate. I would not expect a bigot, born to bigoted parents to understand some of the nuances of what the bible meant or did not mean to say. I doubt they would care if they did. They would find some other reason to dislike this minority group.
I say--bigots are unfit to adopt children.

[MarkCharles]

7. The pro death writer, (a man, obviously) isn't even a good

writer.

If I had been the faculty advisor to the paper, I would have required a re-write, and a correction of statements claimed as facts.

Some high school in Wisconsin has under-qualified faculty.

[digonswine]

8. Yes-a bit lame-

but this is an opinion piece. Facts be damned! Why would you expect more than this from a brainwashed hater? I am told, however, that he is nice kid and this surprised many.

Careful w/ that last comment. The person is quite qualified-that does not imply great judgement.

[dsc]

9. the anti gay article should have been edited

since it was factually inaccurate (Jesus said nothing about gays for example). But otherwise I don't have a problem with what the paper did.