Scan recent news stories and you might come to the conclusion that the entire population of Colorado Springs is obsessed with homosexuality....and as home to Focus on the Family, this certainly is a community that spends more than its fair share worrying about what people do in their own homes, behind closed doors. However, even in Colorado Springs there are moderates and liberals, and many are not afraid to stand up for themselves and their beliefs.

Point in case -- a Palmer High School student brought the ACLU into a fight to create a Gay Straight Alliance (details of which I have previously posted elsewhere). After 2 years and $340,000 in legal fees, the district settled -- not because they felt the suit was right, but because the legal fees were becoming cumbersome. Be that as it may, the GSA was accorded its due status as a club at the school, with the rights and privileges assigned to all school sponsored clubs. You might think that means the issue is closed.

If you think that, however, you think wrong.

Two social-studies teachers were escorted out of Palmer High School during the school day and placed on administrative leave Wednesday{, December 1, 2005}. Colorado Springs School District 11 officials would not identify the teachers or say why they were placed on leave. Palmer students who talked to The Gazette identified the teachers as Fran Lindau and Anton Schulzki. [...] Lindau and Schulzki are both faculty sponsors of the school's Gay Straight Alliance, said Dean Black, a junior at Palmer and president of the club. The alliance was formed as a safe haven for students and an outlet to discuss issues regarding homosexuality and gay rights. LINK

Interesting. Even more interesting are comments made by the student who brought the original suit:

Yesterday, our two brave and incredible teacher sponsors, Mrs. Lindau and Mr. Schulzki, were interruped in the middle of their own classes by security and were literally escorted out of the building. This caused an enormous eruption throughout the entire school of confusion and anger. Apparently, the district has found Mrs. Lindau and Mr. Schulzki "guilty" of something that they are officially under investigation for and are not allowed on the school's property until the investigation is over, which could be weeks or even months. The faculty is not allowed to release any information as to why our two beloved teachers and sponsors are in so much trouble, but from the sounds of things, if proven guilty, they could be at the risk of being fired. Our principal, Tom Kelly, along with the rest of the faculty, have informed us that it has absolutely nothing to do with the G/SA, but I don't buy that for a second. It is far too coincidental that these two teachers, out of 200 others, would be accused of doing something so awful. link

Without sponsors, the club cannot meet and is effectively sidelined. I can find no word that the teachers have been reinstated; nor has this bit of news gone any further than the local papers. It is admirable that the young people involved in the GSA pursued what they believe in -- it is disturbing to think that even after they won, they lose -- unless the School District cares to release information as to the real reason the two teachers were pulled from class, and it has truly nothing to do with their involvement with this club. I'm guessing the silence on this issue will remain as deafening as it has been so far.

And that's life, in Colorado Springs.