NEA: Local Schools Must Address Safety of Gays

By Jeff Archer

They listened as a gay student told what it felt like to attend a public school. They brought in an evangelical minister who explained his belief that homosexual activity is a sin. And they held focus groups to probe public opinion on sexual orientation.

In the end, a task force of leaders from the National Education Association was able to agree on this much: Educators cannot ignore the risks faced by homosexual students and school employees, but deciding how to deal with the issue should be a matter of local concern.

Officials of the 2.6 million- member NEA hardly expect the consensus—spelled out in a report approved by its board of directors Feb. 8—to satisfy the critics who accuse the union of pushing a "pro-homosexual" agenda. Instead, they say their hope is to focus new energies on addressing what they see as an urgent matter of safety and human rights, while recognizing that teachers, like the general public, hold widely divergent...