A Minnesota school board has agreed to hear from an anti-LGBTQ+ organisation despite protests from students and faculty.
Becker School District board has confirmed a presentation from Minnesota Child Protection League (MNCPL), an anti-LGBTQ+ group based in Minnesota, according to Southern Poverty Law Centre.
The Minnesota school board’s decision to allow the presentation has been granted in an effort to “the other side” as a talk was given by the LGBTQ+ group OutFront Minnesota in January.
The board agreed upon a presentation to be made on March 14 by MNCPL, The Hill reports.
“The response from the kids is they were glad to have [OutFront], but the response from the school board then was right away, they needed to hear the other side of this,” Becker High School teacher and Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) advisor Heather Abrahamson told St. Cloud Times.
“I don’t understand how you could think there’s another side to human rights, but they claim that there is.”
Students who protested the presentation vocally opposed the association of MNCPL with their school board.
“This is disgusting,” Skyler Seiler, a Transgender student at the school, told Fox 9.
“I can’t believe this, we are humans too. I don’t know why they’re treating us like we’re not. It is your job, as school board members, to make students feel safe and welcome.”
MNCPL is part of the Child Protection League (CPL) and states it is “committed to promoting the welfare of children and protecting them from exploitation, indoctrination and violence”, according to its dedicated webpage.
The page continues to claim it “[educates] citizens on issues that protect or threaten the safety of children”.
This month’s protest is not the first time Becker High School students have protested the school’s interaction with LGBTQ+ rights.
In early 2021, students participated in a walkout led by the youth community organisation Minnesota Teen Activists. The walkout was to show solidarity with the Black community following the tragic killing of Daunte Wright.
The St. Cloud Times reported that the school’s GSA alliance also actioned a walkout in a stand for the LGBTQ+ community.
Following the Becker school board’s decision to hear a presentation by the anti-LGBTQ+ organisation, students and faculty expressed concern that their protests were not being heard.
In January, GSA students issued an email to board members in the same month the possibility of meeting with MNCPL was raised.
Becker High School Senior Nick Roehl told St. Cloud Times that the board “seem super supportive and seem like they want the best for us” in meetings with GSA students, Becker High School Senior Nick Roehl told the , “but then when it really comes down to it, they’re not willing to do what we need.”
Speaking on the queer acceptance of Becker, Roehl added: “I don’t think any queer kid says, ‘Oh, yeah, I think going to Becker, I’m fine going there.’ No, we feel unsafe going there. We feel like not stuck up for.”
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