In the name of the god Safety

In the 60s schools banned pregnant and openly gay students for their shame. Throughout the last few decades Americans had grown somewhat, recognizing that everyone has a voice and a name, and not just an orientation or a "condition."

Now, as the fascist times return, schools are banning pregnant women from being seen in school events, and gay students from telling their honest stories to their peers, all in the name of 'student safety.'

The (un?)Holy Womb
In the first case, a strong, family-supported pregnant woman was barred from walking the stage at her Roman Catholic school. There are points to be made here: it is a private, religious school, and the Catholic Church is opposed to premarital sex.

Her banning, however, speaks to a deeper, more evil set of thoughts. The father-to-be of her baby, who has acknowledged his paternity, was allowed to be present and graduate. If this ostensibly Catholic school wants to punish someone for their moral mis-deeds, how does the man get away with it?

And instead of being up-front with the issue of her moral indiscretion, she was banned for 'safety reasons.' An odd choice of words. Was there a presumption that the student body would rise up and stone this young woman, who attended school with them for the entire past year? Was she deemed a threat to others, that physical safety was factor?

So when the young woman decided to receive her honors by her own hand, and walked across the stage by herself, announcing her name, after the end of the program, how was safety effected when her mother and aunt, who had come to stand by ther kin, were escorted out of the school by the police?

We live in dangerous times, people. Pregnant people are everywhere, and who knows what those swelling uteri are capable of doing! And the Catholic Church cowers in its moral rectitude instead of being a light of compassion and love unto its constituents and students.

A Conservative Approach to Safety
The principal who censored a student-run newspaper that wanted to print an in-depth interview with gay students and their parents, and for whom all permissions were signed for student names and pictures to appear, worried about the safety on campus if the story was published. Sheesh, we don' wanna rile up dem angry white folk, do we? As with our Roman Catholic school in Atlanta, Georgia, students had been unfazed, unconcerned, and pretty much okay with the fact that people among them were different. But the school, in an attempt, I guess, to create moral outrage or curry favor with certain elements in the community, stepped in in the name of "safety."

So, Let's Talk Safety
Our skies are safe from zippo lighters, our children presumably from the sight of pregnant classmates -- or at least the females; males get to keep their lives. And our terror level keeps us at that steady edge of unreasonable orange.

Terrorists can freely cross our borders -- just ask anyone within 500 miles of a border.
Idiots can buzz the Capitol at will.
Children, let alone terrorists, can play 'Out the Air Marshall' on any flight you might name.

But, gosh darn it, we can keep our kids safe from seeing pregnant or gay students in a public setting; that makes our lives more secure.

Head, meet sand. Sand, engulf head.