Molalla GSA gains approval;SB 2 and HB 2007 get Tuesday House Vote

Despite the best efforts of prominent local homophobe Tootie Smith, the principal at Molalla High School approved a Gay-Straight Alliance Club for the school:

Two students originally proposed the club in February to promote tolerance of diverse sexual orientation, said Tanya Earle, a teacher and club adviser. The students drafted a constitution and submitted it to student leaders, who approved it after some debate, and forwarded it to Ricker for final approval.

In recent weeks, a group of concerned parents gathered signatures on a petition opposing the club and met with school officials. Tootie Smith, who helped circulate the petition, declined to comment on approval of the club. Smith is a district parent, former state representative and a lobbyist for the Oregon Family Council.

Wayne Kostur, superintendent of Molalla River School District, said Ricker's decision was in line with school standards governing student organizations: "It appears to me that the students who wished to form that group did so in the appropriate fashion, and once they met the criteria that were established, the principal approved it."

This has to be a setback for the Oregon Family Council. Tootie Smith is their lobbyist in Salem. The OFC is about to lose the war of discrimination against the gay and lesbian community in Oregon.

I'm hearing that the House will be voting on Senate Bill 2(Anti-discrimination) and House Bill 2007 (Civil unions) on Tuesday.

I think that twenty years from now, my kids will be looking back on this time in Oregon politics with awe and shame. Just as we do with the Civil Rights Movement--they'll be wondering how we could have ever been so bigoted and wretched to our fellow human beings.

I'm just glad that we're finally climbing our way out of it..albeit slowly.