District 81 forces out gay dance

The Spokane Public Schools shut its doors on the most important social event of the year for Spokane gay and lesbian students 24 hours before the Gayest Valentine’s Dance was to begin at Ferris High School on Friday evening.

On this, Spokane Public Schools officials and gay youth advocates agree.

But while Superintendent Brian Benzel said the decision to bar the event was based on the safety and security concerns of allowing guests up to age 22, gay youth advocates insist the district caved in to complaints from conservative parents.

“Whatever reasons the district chose, they are sending the message that Spokane Public Schools is not a safe place for gay students to be,” said Laurel Kelly, executive director of Odyssey Youth Center, a sponsor of the dance.

She said district officials have known for three weeks that the age range for the dance was 14 to 22 and called the district’s last-minute decision “institutionalized oppression.” In fact, the arrangements for the dance, including the age limits, were the same as last year when it also was held at Ferris, and the year before that at North Central High School.

So what is different about this year?

“One of our administrators realized we were in a situation where our ability to provide a safe environment didn’t appear likely,” Benzel said.

He said it was Thursday before the district discovered that arrangements had not been made to provide security for an event scheduled for people beyond school ages.

“This is not an appropriate circumstance for us,” Benzel said. “We are not in the business of sponsoring events like this for nonschool-age people.”

Kelly said this was “at least the third or fourth excuse” that she had heard for the district’s rejection of the event. “I would encourage them to at least be consistent.”

She and a group of about 20 gay and straight students, as well as their adult advocates, gathered outside the school district offices in downtown Spokane on Friday to voice their frustration with the decision they believe was the result of “homophobic” complaints.

After being told of the district’s decision Thursday afternoon, the dance sponsors – Odyssey and the district’s own equity office – made arrangements to hold the dance at the Spokane Falls Community College cafeteria Friday evening.

Friday’s happening didn’t appear much different from a homecoming dance, with chaperones keeping a watchful eye, a soda pop bar keeping students caffeinated, dozens of pink and red balloons adorning the ceiling and construction-paper hearts littering the floor. About 100 people had arrived by 9 p.m., and others still were filtering in.

Youths at the dance expressed anger at the last-minute change of venue.

“I want people to be aware of what’s going on and not just blow it off as ‘one of those things,’ ” said Anne Pew, a Ferris senior and member of Ferris’ Gay-Straight Alliance. “I don’t want it to happen again.”

Jamie Wieber, a Ferris junior and Gay-Straight Alliance member, said dance organizers offered to create a different age range when they first started planning.

“They told us 14 to 22 was going to be just fine,” said Wieber, 17. “I can’t say it was out of hatred, but just the fact that they did it is just appalling.”

The importance of the dance to gay students and students questioning their sexual orientation could not be overstated, at least not at Friday’s protest.

“It provides an opportunity for kids who can’t be themselves at other public venues without fear of reprisal,” said Khalil Islam-Zwart, an Odyssey board member.

“These kids don’t feel safe attending a regular public school dance,” said Ryan Oelrich, executive director of Quest, a gay youth advocacy group. He cited the example of a gay youth who had to leave a Lewis and Clark High School dance last semester after he and his partner were threatened and called “queer.”

Anthony Spencer, a gay 16-year-old Ferris student, planned to attend the dance at SFCC in drag with his friend, a female Ferris student.

The event “allows me to dance with whom I want without getting ridiculed,” he said.

Supporting him at Friday morning’s protest was his mother, Jennifer Johnson, who was disappointed in the school district’s decision. She said her son came out when he was 14.

“He said, ‘Mom, we need to talk. I’m gay,’ ” Johnson said. “What can you do? He’s my baby.”

She worries about the safety of her son, who she said has suffered verbal abuse from other children.

School district officials maintain that their decision was based on safety and security issues alone.

“It is not about who the event was for,” Benzel said. “That is not our issue. We have liability concerns when an event crosses over to adults.”

School district official Emmett Arndt explained the school district rules for dances Friday.

A “mixer” is generally limited to students, he said, and with “date dances” guests who are not students must be approved in advance by either a principal or an assistant principal. Student IDs are checked at the door and guests’ names must appear on an approved list.

The Ferris High School Student/Parent Handbook backs him on this.

Arndt and Benzel both denied the district’s decision was the result of parents’ complaints or discrimination.

“In fact, I’m not aware of any pressure,” Arndt said.

Benzel said he received one question about the event from a school district employee, and a principal also took a complaint. “We may have had more complaints,” he said. “I didn’t take them.”

But he acknowledged the controversial nature of the Gayest Valentine’s Dance.

“There are challenging issues in our society right now, and they almost all affect us,” Benzel said.

He also regretted the 11th-hour timing of the school district’s decision.

“We deal with mistakes when we make them, and we do … but we still have an obligation to protect students,” Benzel said.

With this at least, Odyssey’s Kelly concurred.

“We set aside this particular event to create a safe space for gay students,” she said. “Love is a human right.”