A "heterosexual
questionnaire" passed out to students at Port
Washington High School in Wisconsin has some angry parents
and administrators promising action. The
questionnaire, created by the school's pro-gay
Students for Unity club and approved by two teachers,
asked students questions such as: "If you have never slept
with someone of your same gender, then how do you know
you wouldn't prefer it?" reports the Milwaukee
Journal Sentinel.
During the
national Day of Silence on April 25, hundreds of students
were told to submit written answers and discuss the
survey. Students for Unity then led full
class-period discussions. Two teachers approved
distribution of the survey. The principal did not.
Parent Lisa Krier
this week called for the two teachers to be
disciplined, saying the survey was a form of sexual
harassment by teachers against students. "If somebody
doesn't call them on it, it will continue," she told
the Sentinel.
Both principal
Duane Woelfel and Patty Ruth, president of the Port
Washington-Saukville school board, said the survey
was inappropriate and that proper authorization was
not given before it was brought into classrooms. "The
message that really needs to go out at this point is
that this administration will ensure that this type of
survey will never go out again," Ruth said.
Woelfel said he
has received complaints from about two dozen parents and
community members regarding the survey. He estimated that
the survey was given to about 400 of the school's 930
students. Woelfel said that the Students for Unity's
goal of trying to prevent harassment of all people
with "alternative lifestyles" is good but that the survey
was not appropriate. The two teachers "are very
remorseful," he said.
According to the
Sentinel, some of the questions apparently were
intended to make heterosexuals understand what it's
like to be gay or lesbian. Those questions included: "What
do you think caused your heterosexuality?" and "When
did you decide you were heterosexual?" Students in the
group presenting the survey were trying to convey that
"students who have an alternative lifestyle get asked
these questions every day, so please be considerate.
It was an exercise in compassion and understanding that did
not work out real well," Woelfel said. (The
Advocate)
