The Bountiful High School matrons are not the PTA of my childhood.
Projecting their Ozzie-and-Harriet delusions about life in Davis County onto vulnerable teenagers, this group of morally indignant women set off a tired debate that we in this state seem to repeat year after year: Are gay people real, and do they deserve to be treated as human?
Joining the Chris Buttarses of the world, Bountiful PTA President Rose Marie Murray seems to answer, "Nope."
It seems strange coming from the leader of an organization whose only purpose is to safeguard children and their education. But apparently Murray and her fellow mothers-in-arms interpret their jobs differently - they're looking out for the right kind of children.
This all started last month when Bountiful PTA board members outraged - apoplectic, really - about an advertisement in the National PTA magazine, Our Children, decided to put their thoughts down on paper.
"Dare to Dream?" the ad asked. "Let PFLAG help secure a brighter future for deserving gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and questioning high school students and their supporters with a PFLAG scholarship."
A scholarship fund by Parents, Friends and Family of Lesbians and Gays somehow facilitates or, even worse, encourages being gay, the Parent Teacher Association concluded.
"In Bountiful, Utah," they wrote in a letter to the National PTA, "we strongly oppose efforts to impose and legitimize alternative lifestyles on our students and children."
I guess that means the Bountiful PTA wouldn't stand up for interracial couples who were being heckled in the halls. Pregnant teens also would be on their own. And the goths and headbangers could just forget it. As for gay or lesbian students, they should head off for shock therapy.
Those terrified women made Bountiful High less safe for any student who does not conform to their idyllic image of the simple, umblemished child. They said they didn't intend to single any student out for harassment. But bullies will do it for them.
"That letter indicates that we haven't made as much progress as we'd hoped," says Joe Watts, past president of the Salt Lake Chapter of PFLAG. "It's a tough road."
This isn't the first time the PTA has resisted gay students' attempts to create a life for themselves. At East High School, the PTA and school community councils rescinded an invitation for diversity camps organized by the National Conference for Community and Justice (NCCJ) after the workshops taught respect for everyone - including gays.
Most of the time, those petty humiliations are kept quiet. But backlash was swift for the letter writers.
Utah PTA President Carmen Snow says she fears for her life after a barrage of nasty e-mail. She didn't sign off on the letter but agreed in concept with one point: "We don't promote lifestyles," Snow says. At the same time, "We do not push our values. But we do try to make a better world for all children."
"I want it to go away," she adds.
Before it fades into the "news of the righteous" file, this provides an opening. This is the Bountiful PTA's chance to reach out to the very people they tried to marginalize: gay students and their parents and friends and families.
"This isn't something you scoot under the rug," says Kilo Zamora, NCCJ director.
The Davis School District and gay advocacy groups are setting up just such a meeting - to clear the air. Hopefully, some minds will be cleared, too.
walsh@sltrib.com
