Rather than to split the chapter's up and blog nightly, I have decided to combine the two post together and do them every other night, allowing me to keep the chapters together. No internet in Philly last weekend and illness this week have me slightly behind. That being said, it's time to move on to chapter 3 in Mary L Gray's Out in the Country.
This chapter, entitled "School Fight!", basically chronicles the attempt of students at Boyd County High School to establish a Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) club at the school. They were turned down numerous times for technical reasons but finally managed to get it approved by involving the ACLU. It wasn't long, approximately two weeks, however, before the school board voted to do away with all clubs at the school. This was seen for what it was: a ploy to do away with the GSA via the backdoor while the other clubs continued to meet.
It wasn't until there was a Unity Rally held that things finally came together. I liken it to the way my family feels about things. . . I can bad-mouth anyone in my family I want too, but let someone else try bad-mouthin 'em and it's likely they will have a fight on their hands. I've learned that this is also the way rural communities work. We can fight amongst ourselves and bad-mouth each other all day long, but don't let no outsider come in and try to spread hate and discontent. This is what happened in this small community as well. During the Unity Rally, while they never exactly embraced the concept of the GSA, it "proved more solidifying than anyone anticipated, thanks in no small part to notorious Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church minister Fred Phelps" (1668-1685). As one participant stated, "I thought it was important to show these folks from Kansas that a message of hate and intolerance is not something that people in Eastern Kentucky believe" (1685-1703).
Eventually, the ACLU did have to become involved in the situation and they sued the school board, who did not even have the power to decide about clubs in the schools. The case was won and the GSA was once again established in Boyd County High School.
Gray notes that "the situation called attention to the complicated intersection of racial and class tensions that structure rural life" (1721-1737). In areas where people are struggling to find jobs and keep their families fed, clothed, and housed, the thought of any group getting special treatment is threatening. Rural communities are also threatened when groups such as the ACLU become involved. They feel that these urban influences sweep into these rural communities, disrupt everything, then rush back out leaving a mess in their wake. And often, they have a point. But as this example clearly shows, if faced with embracing the queerness that is family or allowing those from Kansas to spread hate among their community, they chose to embrace their own.
This chapter, entitled "School Fight!", basically chronicles the attempt of students at Boyd County High School to establish a Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) club at the school. They were turned down numerous times for technical reasons but finally managed to get it approved by involving the ACLU. It wasn't long, approximately two weeks, however, before the school board voted to do away with all clubs at the school. This was seen for what it was: a ploy to do away with the GSA via the backdoor while the other clubs continued to meet.
It wasn't until there was a Unity Rally held that things finally came together. I liken it to the way my family feels about things. . . I can bad-mouth anyone in my family I want too, but let someone else try bad-mouthin 'em and it's likely they will have a fight on their hands. I've learned that this is also the way rural communities work. We can fight amongst ourselves and bad-mouth each other all day long, but don't let no outsider come in and try to spread hate and discontent. This is what happened in this small community as well. During the Unity Rally, while they never exactly embraced the concept of the GSA, it "proved more solidifying than anyone anticipated, thanks in no small part to notorious Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church minister Fred Phelps" (1668-1685). As one participant stated, "I thought it was important to show these folks from Kansas that a message of hate and intolerance is not something that people in Eastern Kentucky believe" (1685-1703).
Eventually, the ACLU did have to become involved in the situation and they sued the school board, who did not even have the power to decide about clubs in the schools. The case was won and the GSA was once again established in Boyd County High School.
Gray notes that "the situation called attention to the complicated intersection of racial and class tensions that structure rural life" (1721-1737). In areas where people are struggling to find jobs and keep their families fed, clothed, and housed, the thought of any group getting special treatment is threatening. Rural communities are also threatened when groups such as the ACLU become involved. They feel that these urban influences sweep into these rural communities, disrupt everything, then rush back out leaving a mess in their wake. And often, they have a point. But as this example clearly shows, if faced with embracing the queerness that is family or allowing those from Kansas to spread hate among their community, they chose to embrace their own.
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