Another reason why this town sucks ass.

I work with the mother of one of these students that organized this protest.

30 rally after teachers order gay student to remove skirt
By Stephanie Mathieu
Oct 19, 2006 - 06:51:02 am PDT

A group of about 30 young adults took to the streets Wednesday to protest what they consider discrimination against a gay Kelso High school sophomore.Two teachers on Oct. 10 ordered the student to remove a skirt he was wearing over long shorts during spirit week, according to school officials and students.

Principal Adele Marshall said the student's behavior was disrupting lunch, but protesters who assembled at Allen Street and Kelso Drive -- one of Kelso's busiest intersections -- said the boy's rights were violated."He's being discriminated against at the high school," said James Mai, a 21-year-old Longview resident who organized Wednesday's protest. "We don't tolerate discrimination."Some of the protestors were students at Lower Columbia College or Kelso High School. Others were just friends in support of equal rights, Mai said. They held signs urging drivers to "honk 4 = rights."The gay student did not instigate or participate in the protest, but he supports the action, Mai said. When reached by The Daily News, he declined to comment.Cross dressing does not violate the school's dress code. Other male students wore skirts that day, several student protesters said. The boy's skirt hung below his knees. School officials have the right to ask student to change out of disruptive clothing, Marshall said. She said officials most commonly use that authority when students wear clothing sporting drug or alcohol themes, such as the names of beer brands."The adults in charge that day felt it was creating a nuisance in the lunchroom," Marshall said. "His behaviors were inviting a lot of negative energy."Marshall said she learned later -- administrators were away at a training workshop Oct. 10 -- that the student told her he wore the skirt on a dare.The protest got the attention of Chuck Wallace, who ran unsuccessfully for Cowlitz County commissioner this year."I'm absolutely thrilled," Wallace said. "It's good to see that young people have a pulse and want to get out and make a difference. That's exactly what we need in America."Since the student was asked to change out of his skirt, Kelso High School students have organized sit-ins at the school and passed out flyers in his support, some of the protesters said."We think it's wrong," Kelso ninth-grader Marion Bruner said. "He was acting how he usually acts."Explaining her reasons for joining the protest, ninth-grader Morgan Lewellen said homosexual students are often harassed at the school, and some are afraid to come out. Bruner and Lewellen were on their way to the protest with parental permission to leave school. Students without permission will have an unexcused absence and possibly face detention, Marshall said."Kids do have the right to do that, and it's a part of growing," Marshall said.The Kelso incident has some similarities to the case at R.A. Long High School in January last year in which an openly gay student was sent home for wearing a T-shirt sporting the words "Too Gay to Function." Officials said it was offensive to homosexuals.Before last week's incident, Marshall had been working with a few students to reinstate the school's diversity club, which fell apart last year after the adviser became ill.

I love the fact that so many of the parents of these kids were so supportive of the fact that thier children wanted to stand up for a friend. I can actually now believe that maybe the future generations won't turn out all that bad after all.

That's it for tonight.

ttfn