High School's Rainbow 'Diversity' Flag Doesn't Fly With Some Parents
by Jim Brown
January 25, 2005
(AgapePress) - A rainbow-colored homosexual pride flag has created a stir in a Michigan high school. Members of the Howell High School Diversity Club recently hung the flag to promote different types of sexual orientation within the homosexual community.
Despite objections from parents, school officials say the flag will remain on campus since it supports the diversity section of the school's code of conduct and promotes unity. But Robert McNaughton, who has two children in the high school, feels the flag is not an equal-opportunity emblem at all. "Basically I thought this was not inclusive of the heterosexuals or those of different religious faith," he says, "because it doesn't represent them."
In fact, McNaughton feels the rainbow flag discriminates against straight students. And, because the flag has not been reviewed and approved by parents in a public forum, he believes it may also be in violation of Michigan's sex education laws. The concerned parent went to the school to voice his concerns. "I sat down and talked with the principal who made the executive decision to put the flag up," he notes. He says Principal Marge Hamill called the rainbow emblem a 'diversity flag' and tried to claim it symbolized acceptance of all students, but he disagreed with that explanation.
"I pointed out to her that flags are very specific and have a strong symbology," McNaughton says. "Everything that's on a flag relates to something to that group, individual, community, or country." And in the case of the Diversity Club's flag, he has no doubt the members who hung the flag had a specific meaning in mind.
As a matter of fact, the rainbow flag appears to have been raised in response to a particular political event. The diversity club put the colorful ensign up last November, shortly after a majority of Michigan citizens voted in favor of Proposal 2, calling for an amendment to the state constitution to enshrine "the union of one man and one woman" in matrimony as "the only agreement recognized as a marriage or similar union for any purpose."
A diversity club member was quoted in the Detroit press as saying that the flag was intended to include homosexual men and women but that its meaning was not limited to those groups. Nevertheless, McNaughton and other district parents maintain that the flag discriminates by promoting a particular agenda and excluding non-homosexual students.
Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
