Anti-Gay Students Demonstrate Hate
* In response to your article (“Student Flyer Urges Ban of Gay Support Group,” Nov. 18), I would like to praise the administration of Fountain Valley High School for both allowing a gay and lesbian support group to meet on campus and their quick response to the distribution of a flyer denouncing the group and homosexuality in general. In addition, I would like to take a moment to educate some of the students at the school about the meaning of the word prejudice.
Prejudice is about intolerance and hatred of those who are different from yourself, based solely on an opinion held in disregard of facts that contradict that bias. The “Future Good Boys of America” group that passed out the flyer shows intolerance when they try and stop the gay group from meeting at the school. They show intolerance when they demand that gay and lesbian teen-agers must stay in the closet.
Hatred is shown when words such as abnormal, deviant and sickening are used to describe fellow teen-agers. Hatred and violence are encouraged and condoned when students claim that having openly gay students on campus will lead to fighting. I personally know several gay high school students who have been beaten up for being gay. How many straight students are beaten up by gays strictly for being heterosexual?
The positive point to all of these events is the fact that there is now an open dialogue occurring at Fountain Valley High, and other schools as well, about homosexuality.
Regardless of the individual opinions of any of us, this dialogue is important and needs to continue if we are ever to be a truly tolerant society.
DWAYNE SCOTT DAVIS
Costa Mesa
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