Gay-Straight Alliance Case Study

Practice Theory Assignment Social Foundations by Aaron Neeb Carolyn Wilson February 16th, 2011

During his first practicum, Mr Needle was very excited to teach his first music class in the community in which he grew up. It was a rural community and had a very strong christian population although the highschool ( Super Duper High School) itself was a public school. About half-way through his practicum a student approached him and his associate teacher Mr Meer about the morning announcements for the gay-straight alliance. During the morning announcements, members of the gay-straight alliance would announce names of famous gay people listing their achievements. The student, as a christian, took issue with the misrepresentation of gay students versus straight
The student wanted to write a letter to the administration complaining about the issue. In addition, the student also thought that it was highly unusual to be define a famous person strictly on the basis of their sexual orientation. In order to quell this problem, Mr Meer and Mr Needle discussed options that would both help the student who approached them and respect members of the gay-straight alliance. Before anything else occurred, Mr Meer and Mr Needle contacted the administration and let them know that a student was planning on writing a letter to the administration about the gay-straight alliance in order to inform them of the possibility of such a letter. Mr Meer decided to tell the student to attend one of the gay-straight alliance meetings before they wrote the letter. Mr Meer even volunteered to proof read the letter, but warned the student about the importance of the letter itself