The Equal Access Act allows students to organize non-curriculum related clubs that can meet at school, but only during non-instructional breaks. They meet before and after school, or during lunch, and can be related to anything that interests students. By the act, these clubs are not started by teachers who then get kids to join them, but by students who design the club and then go find a teacher willing to sponsor it. The only restrictions are that the club cannot be involved in anything illegal or which might cause harm, physical and emotional
School administrators cannot deny a club that follows the rules, and that eliminates the problem of an administrator allowing some clubs to form because he, or she, likes the subject or the kids, while not allowing a club where they don’t. This helps, or is intended to help, avoid prejudice.
If a school denied one club whose formation followed the EAC, then no clubs could be allowed.
If you allowed the Bible Club, you had to allow the atheist one, or rejection of one ended the other.
Many extremely conservative school districts got around allowing for a Gay/Straight Alliance (a student-run organization for GLBT and allied youth to build community and organize around issues impacting them in their schools and communities) by cancelling all clubs established under the Equal Access Act.
Not only did they avoid having to allow the club, but they managed to create an enemy because the Bible Club, the chess club, the rocket club, the you-name-it non-curriculum club ended because the Gays demanded “special treatment”.
Transparent, yes, but effective.
In a similar vein:
The only thing they have in common is that they are flags, but if you are blindly desperate to please your political base by honoring a flag they like while discounting others, you see a tool.
The battle flag of the Army of Virginia has now come to allegedly symbolize Southern Pride and heritage, mostly left undefined, but it is important to understand what that heritage is as represented by that flag.
The battle flag was a large version of the “stars and bars” that would become incorporated in the second and third versions of flag of the Confederate States of America.
The original flag of the Confederacy looked much like the U.S. flag and that was why it was originally liked, but that changed over time as the liking waned. What people refer to as the confederate flag was the battle flag of Virginia, and not that of the whole confederacy. This would limit its universal application as a celebration of Southern heritage and pride as each state in the confederacy had its own battle flag. Lee was the big cheese during the Civil War, and so his flag became the most popular after the war when the South, having lost and seeing that those whose servitude they had fought to defend were starting to get the same rights as White people, wanted some way to visually make their statement in opposition to that.
Considering that the Stars and Bars was actually a second tier flag used in battle and not the flag that represented the whole confederacy, those who claim that it honors their Southern heritage clearly show that, while they may claim that, they are a little weak in understanding that heritage as this flag actually does not do that. Not every Southerner fought under Lee.
There is a Facebook meme floating around that attempts to rewrite the history and meaning of the flag, and, like those who deflect reality to present a false motivation for someone’s actions in order to deal with that as opposed what their real motivation is, taking a knee in opposition to racial disparity twisted into an act of disrespect for the troops so we would spend time arguing about troops while saying nothing about racial disparity, attempts to have those who object to the flag because of its overwhelming racist overtones appear to be attacking the Southern love of religion.
Attack the flag and you attack religion.
““The red represents the blood of Christ. The white border represents the protection of God. The blue ‘X’ represents the Christian cross of Saint Andrew, the first disciple of Christ Jesus and patron Saint of Scotland. The 13 stars represent the 13 Southern states of succession.”
It’s all in there.
The flag cannot be racist, in spite of its omnipresence at racist rallies, marches, demonstration, and other activities because it’s all about Faith.
However, William Porcher Miles, the battle flag’s creator, chose the colors because they were “the true republican colors,” and decided that rather than have the blue banners with stars forming a cross that could be offensive to Jewish Southerners and some Christian sects, rather than going from top to bottom and side to side, they would go corner to corner.
So, if those who fly Virginia’s flag really The problem cheapest price for levitra is that most men do not submit to seeing a doctor even for health reasons. Just log in to our site and register your name for the classes. buy viagra canada If you too have some problem of keeping or mainlining erections in bed, you can go levitra prescription with this choice. This is not a health http://deeprootsmag.org/2016/11/14/saturns-rings-in-daylight-on-the-night-side/ pfizer viagra mastercard problem that men face. wanted to celebrate the heritage of the whole South, it would be better to fly the original flag rather than one that has post-Civil War associations with the KKK and later became a symbol when the Jim Crow era took off.
Hoping to win by deflection, Trump, who has this odd love of all things Confederacy, be it names or statues, has settled on a way to avoid taking sides on the flag issue and has decided to create an enemy from which to defend good Americans.
Why discuss why the confederate flag, statues, and military base names are objectionable, not only to racial concerns, but to the United States against whom the Confederacy fought, when you can get people to fight over whose flag is being favored.
For obvious reasons we don’t name U.S. military bases after people against whom we fought no matter how good they were as military leaders. We don’t fly the flags of countries we fought against on government buildings and military installations. We don’t allow government employees, including the military, sewing patches of the names or faces of those who fought against us, or the flags of their countries on our work clothes or uniforms.
And because the “Confederate flag” besides having come to represent white supremacy and racism, represents a country who fought against the United States, U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper signed an order prohibiting military bases from flying flags other than the U.S. flag, state flags, and military-related flags.
Trump tap dances whenever he is asked about the flag and he often seems hostile to the idea of removing statues and other symbols of the confederacy on public land, explaining in a recent interview that the “confederate flag” doesn’t bother him, and this order gets around that.
The flag restriction applies to “work places, common access areas, and public areas,” including school houses, office buildings, naval vessels, break room and common areas in barracks” and applies to any flag, not just national flags or enemy flags, so, creating conflict, it also applies to the Pride flag, the Black Lives Matter flag, and any symbol that is not directly related to the American flag, flags of U.S. states, territories, and the District of Columbia, and military flags.
Flags of allies, because they are our friends, are allowed.
Esper explained in his memo,
“The flags we fly must accord with the military imperatives of good order and discipline, treating all our people with dignity and respect, and rejecting divisive symbols.”
GLBT groups affiliated with the military will not be allowed to display the rainbow flag at any time, and GLBT service members are no longer permitted to display the flag in their workspaces.
The division caused by the confederate flag is a matter of history. The Klan carried it; it was a symbol connected to Jim Crow laws and their enforcement; it was and is present at events in opposition to Civil Right, desegregation, voting rights, equal rights; and those who flew it killed American soldiers.
The Pride and BLM flags and those like them that promote and celebrate what the United States actually stands for are not on the same level with those who attacked it.
The Pride flag celebrates diversity and inclusion along with the successes in winning the rights of GLBT citizens that others take for granted as a given and those who won those battles. The Confederate flag equates with the denial of human rights.
How are they in any way the same.
Joe Biden was quick to respond,
“Banning the Confederate flag from military installations was long overdue. Banning the LGBTQ Pride flag — the very symbol of— is undeniably wrong. The Pentagon should ensure it is authorized, or as President, I will.”
He sees the difference.
Rudy Coots, president of Department of Defense Pride, said,
“We were shocked to learn DOD’s new policy on the public display of flags bans the Rainbow Pride Flag from DOD workplaces. Banning the Rainbow Pride Flag will have the opposite effect of the policy’s intended purpose of improving morale, cohesion, and readiness. For LGBT soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, and civilians protecting our nation each and every day, and their allies, the flag is a joyous symbol of hope, acceptance, and accomplishment that should continue to be displayed proudly.”
Since 2011 the Pentagon has hosted Pride events in June. No decorations next time.
So who can be blamed when the Irish flag can’t go up in March?
Of course, looked at another way, if the Pride flag and the battle flag are of equal value, and have equal influence, either both or neither should be displayed and this also ends the larger discussion of the appropriateness of monuments and statues.
For every Stonewall Jackson, there will be a Stonewall Queen.