Frankie Spano
09-08-2003, 02:48 PM
NEW YORK, Sept. 8 — The first publicly funded school in the United States for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender teen-agers opened in New York Monday as a handful of protesters rallied across the street.
{Protesters, supporters greet students on first day at Harvey Milk school}
THERE WERE also demonstrations of support for the Harvey Milk High School. In front of the building, people cheered and held up banners such as “God made us Queer” on the first day of classes for the school named after a gay San Francisco politician assassinated in 1978.
The school, which for 20 years was funded privately and had just two classes, is now bankrolled jointly by the city education department and a gay rights youth advocacy group, the Hetrick-Martin Institute, a first for the United States.
When city officials announced in July that the school would open in the new academic year in September along with others for New York’s 1.1 million city-educated children, critics in the United States and overseas said creating a special school would not solve the larger problem of homophobia.
“I am offended because this school is only for a particular sexual orientation,” protester Reuben Israel said Monday. “I say it is discriminating ... these people say ’accept us for who we are’ but don’t accept anybody else.”
Some held up banners like “Sodomy It’s to Die For” and another that said, “Death Penalty for Fags.”
SAFE HAVEN
School principal William Salzman said the school was not segregationist. He said it provided a safe learning environment for children who had been physically or emotionally abused in other schools because of their sexual orientation.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the teachers’ union support the school.
“We are very proud to have them here in a safe, nurturing environment,” Salzman, a former Wall Street executive who has recently worked as an assistant high school principal, told reporters. “Some may say it is segregationist, it’s not. All the students are here voluntarily.
“There are schools where some things may be taking place, but we can’t change the whole world, but what we can do is work with one child at a time.”
He said over 70 students are enrolled so far in the revamped school, which will specialize in computer technology, media, art and culinary programs in addition to the city school curriculum. The city spent $3.2 million to renovate the building in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village neighborhood.
© 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters.
-MSNBC News
{Protesters, supporters greet students on first day at Harvey Milk school}
THERE WERE also demonstrations of support for the Harvey Milk High School. In front of the building, people cheered and held up banners such as “God made us Queer” on the first day of classes for the school named after a gay San Francisco politician assassinated in 1978.
The school, which for 20 years was funded privately and had just two classes, is now bankrolled jointly by the city education department and a gay rights youth advocacy group, the Hetrick-Martin Institute, a first for the United States.
When city officials announced in July that the school would open in the new academic year in September along with others for New York’s 1.1 million city-educated children, critics in the United States and overseas said creating a special school would not solve the larger problem of homophobia.
“I am offended because this school is only for a particular sexual orientation,” protester Reuben Israel said Monday. “I say it is discriminating ... these people say ’accept us for who we are’ but don’t accept anybody else.”
Some held up banners like “Sodomy It’s to Die For” and another that said, “Death Penalty for Fags.”
SAFE HAVEN
School principal William Salzman said the school was not segregationist. He said it provided a safe learning environment for children who had been physically or emotionally abused in other schools because of their sexual orientation.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the teachers’ union support the school.
“We are very proud to have them here in a safe, nurturing environment,” Salzman, a former Wall Street executive who has recently worked as an assistant high school principal, told reporters. “Some may say it is segregationist, it’s not. All the students are here voluntarily.
“There are schools where some things may be taking place, but we can’t change the whole world, but what we can do is work with one child at a time.”
He said over 70 students are enrolled so far in the revamped school, which will specialize in computer technology, media, art and culinary programs in addition to the city school curriculum. The city spent $3.2 million to renovate the building in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village neighborhood.
© 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters.
-MSNBC News