Brandi Estes Is Upset

Seriously, what's all the fuss about?

At a California Mead Valley middle school the students want to form a Gay-Straight Alliance club, and while the school administrators, and the Val Verde Unified School District, don't see a problem, parents of some students are up in arms. About Gay people and Straight people aligning? Really?

Several students at Tomas Rivera Middle School announced on the site's closed-circuit TV that they were gay or bisexual and wanted to rally classmates to form a Gay-Straight Alliance, and about 15 people peacefully stood outside the school periodically, talking to parents as they dropped off and picked up their children.

Gay kids and Straight kids, talking to one another to try and understand that, really, they aren't so very different. And a school district that seems to okay the idea. What could go wrong?

Parents. One such "parent," Brandi Estes is among a group of other perturbed parents planning to pass out fliers in hopes of stopping the club. While Brandi has nothing against gays, unless they want to talk to her child, I guess, she says, with a straight face, "[H]ow can a child 10 or 11 going into middle school decide if he or she wants to be straight or gay?"

Brandi? Honey? Take a lesson from the kids, dear. If this Gay-Straight Alliance is formed, and from what the school district says it will happen, once of the first things straight kids might learn is that gay kids don't choose to be gay any more that straight kids chose that orientation. Perhaps Brandi Estes ought to find a parental Gay-Straight Alliance to help open her mind.

But Brandi Estes goes further, when she says, again straight-faced, "It's absurd. If that's the lifestyle they choose at 17 or 18, let them knock themselves out. But these are children and I don't think they have the mental capacity to make that decision, which can be life-changing."
Brandi Estes. Every time you open your mouth, you actually help the notion that a Gay-Straight Alliance is a good thing. Even when you question the purpose of a Gay-Straight Alliance.

Brandi Estes: "What can they possibly talk about? What are they getting together to do? Is it a place to meet other gay people, or a place to bring others in?"

Yes, Brandi Estes. it's a recruitment center for the LGBT community. There will be games like Pin The Penis On The Hot Man and Spin The Power Tool; there will forms and registration cards and toaster oven door prizes.

Or, and call me crazy, maybe it will be a place where gay kids can be themselves without fear of name-calling and bullying. Maybe it will be a place where straight kids can get answers to their questions, and learn, unlike Brandi Estes, that being gay is not a choice, that being gay is not a learned behavior, or a lesson to be learned.

Brandi Estes says, "I'm very upset."

Me, too, Brandi Estes.

I'm upset that you're allowed to parent a child and inflict upon their young, impressionable minds, your own homophobia. I'm upset that you want the world to be like you, narrow, and afraid, and angry, and upset.

Maybe you ought to go to a meeting, Brandi Estes.