Source: Holmen Courier
King shooting
Holmen, Wisc. -- A few parents in this Wisconsin town near Lacrosse objected at a Monday school board meeting to a proposed vigil to honor victims of anti-gay violence, including 15-year-old Larry King, who was murdered in his Oxnard, Calif. classroom because he was gay.
It wasn’t on the agenda, but homosexuality occupied 15 minutes of the Holmen School Board time at its meeting Monday night. Three audience members spoke to the board opposing the district allowing students to have a gay/lesbian vigil April 25.
The organization the speakers referred to, called the Gay/Lesbian/Straight Education Network (GLSEN), is advocating a countrywide series of vigils in protest against violence toward the gay/lesbian community. This national effort is in reaction to the Feb. 12 shooting at a California school of a 15-year-old gay student, Larry King. Another student allegedly shot him because of his expressions of his sexual orientation.
"I don’t feel it has its place in the school and would like to have the school district reconsider this if it has already been decided to let students participate," Steve Johnston said.
Dennis Wolf complained that observances such as that being advocated by GLSEN "glamorize" homosexuality.
Wolf insisted, according to the local paper, the Holman Courier, that wasn’t picking on homosexuals. "If you want that lifestyle, that’s fine," he said. But then, according to the paper, Wolf for some reason added -- apparently at the public meeting -- that his son had been sexually assaulted by a homosexual.
Wolf also claimed that he worked with and had "friends" that were gay and he was fine with that, but that the schools shouldn’t be "glamorizing homosexuality" as the local paper put it.
Jeff Thompson, a minister of the River of Life church in Onalaska, also opposed recognizing the day. “As a minister, I’ve had to counsel (members) who are trying to exit the lifestyle,” he said.
Full article: Holmen Courier - News