Monday, Oct. 18, a banner advertising the weekly debate topic of Junior Statesmen of America (JSA) was taken down after less than 12 hours of being up. The topic was gay marriage, thus the sign had the words “gay marriage” written across it in addition to the information that JSA was hosting it, and that it would be after school that Wednesday in the Shark Tank. The banner was approved by administration before it was put up. “We didn’t show any political views, we
just said that [gay marriage] was the topic,” said senior Zeshawn Abid, president of JSA and the person who put up the poster, when he addressed the banner incident at that week’s meeting.
Apparently in the 12-hour span that the banner was displayed, administration received numerous parental complaints about the poster. “It was enough that it was disruptive,” says Principal Thompkins, later adding, “any time there is a disruption, I have to try and get the peace back as quickly as I can.” Thompkins believes that the incident could have been prevented by a simple change of words, which he thinks more clearly show the two sides of the issue.
“What would’ve been better on the sign
would have been ‘Gay Marriage vs. Traditional Marriage’.” Thompkins stresses that this mishap was not the fault of JSA. “When I brought those young men in, it was neat to see how humble they were, but I was anxious to reiterate to them that they had done nothing wrong,” recalls Thompkins.
“Mr. Thompkins handled it very well,” said Abid at the meeting. However, Abid made no mention of the sign itself being the problem, and instead discussed what he believed to be the real root of the issue: ignorance. “For the angry parents,” Abid began, addressing the students present. “I don’t know if they’re your parents, but I’m sorry they’re ignorant.” This statement was met with rowdy applause.
Ms. Cooley, JSA’s advisor, believes that the parental complaints were born of misinformation. “Unfortunately, the message that got to some of our community members was that teachers would be giving their two cents or indoctrinating the students about their opinion on gay marriage, and that we would be using class time and it would be forced upon the students. All of those are incorrect, so I was upset that because of misinformation, that the advertising for our club suffered,” says Cooley.
Despite the short amount of time this topic was advertised, the Shark Tank was still filled with people that Wednesday afternoon. Among the debaters was Mr. Kliss, the first ever adult participant of a JSA debate at Santiago. One reason the banner had been taken down was the fear from parents that this topic was going to be discussed by teachers, who would reveal their personal opinions on the subject. At the meeting, Kliss did reveal his pro-gay marriage stance, but was the only teacher present (besides advisor Ms. Cooley), and was the only teacher to verbalize his beliefs on the issue.
The Press Enterprise contacted administration about doing a story on the removal of the banner, but Thompkins has confirmed that he is not interested in speaking to the press on this issue, with the exception of the Shark Attack.
-Karina Stow, Editor-in-Chief
