Staff Editorials

Dad defends cheating child

Cheating rule number one: if you’re going to do it, don’t get caught. Rule number two: when you do, don’t deny it and make yourself look worse, or make a big deal about your punishment. Accept the consequences of your actions, and move on.

Okay, so not the best advice someone can give, but nowadays, cheating is so common that it’s become the norm. Most of us have cheated at least once during our lifetime—there is no point trying to deny it or make excuses.

Rarely does anybody get caught, but when we do, we’re overwhelmed with feelings of guilt and shame, so much so that we don’t really try to fight a teacher’s or school’s punishment because we know it’s well-deserved.

Expectedly, our parents will ground us—take our phones away, give us the death glare—or worse, the cold shoulder and “I can’t believe I raised you” speech.

So when a parent sues a school district over taking action against a student who cheated, we can’t help but raise our eyebrows.

In Northern Carolina, a parent has decided to sue his son’s school district after the sophomore at Sequoia High School in Redwood City was caught cheating in an Honors English class. Consequently, the school took steps to kick the student out of the Honors English class; however, according to the San Mateo County Times, the student will be allowed to enter the school’s advanced International Baccalaureate program in the fall. Additionally, the cheating incident will not appear on his records when he applies to colleges.

Honestly, what more can this student want? Sure, he might not be able to list “Honors English” on his transcript to whatever university he wants to apply to, but at least the universities would not be aware of his immoral behavior. With the incident making national news, his father has only done him more harm than good by making the cheating a public matter.

The bottom line is, the student risked cheating and got caught. Nobody, not even those who cheat regularly, can expect to consciously act immorally and not expect to face the consequences of their actions.

The father of the student asks that his son be allowed to make up for the cheating by helping out a teacher after school rather than getting kicked out of the program, but if the courts and district agree, then they will only be condoning unacceptable behavior.

Students cheat, yes, but those in charge of upholding policies should not let us get away with it—we’ll only take advantage of the fact and cheat more.

The fact that a parent is willing to take this issue to court, when his son is so clearly to blame, only sheds light on the reason why so many young adults have a hard time growing up and facing the real world.

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UCSD is kicking and screaming

In a country that was built on revolution, being rebellious and anti-authoritarian makes a person somewhat of a hero. But when law enforcement officials abuse their power, it gives people all the more reason to lose their trust in individuals who are supposed to be enforcing the law.

On April 20, 23-year-old UC San Diego student Michael Chong was arrested by the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) for suspected drug use. He was taken in during a house raid where agents, according to the LA Times, found guns, ammunition, thousands of ecstasy pills, and other drugs.

The agents were right to suspect that Chong and the eight other individuals at the raid were part of an ecstasy distribution operation; however, the question isn’t over Chong’s drug use, but the DEA’s treatment of Chong after he was arrested that has people up in arms over the entire incident.

After he was released, Chong told a San Diego TV station that the DEA held him in a cell for five days without food or water, leading him to drink his own urine to survive. According to Chong’s lawyer, Gene Iredale, the 23-year-old also suffered from hallucinations, and Chong described himself during those five days as being “completely insane.”

The DEA has since apologized and claimed that Chong being held up in the cell was a “complete accident.”

Excuse us if we don’t buy that sorry excuse.

Sure, accidents happen, but how life-threatening accidents by professionals at an agency notorious for its meticulous and selective hiring process happen is a wonder to us all.

Chong admitted to getting high and using methamphetamine, but his guilt did not call for such a brutal punishment. If Chong was using and selling illegal substances, there is no objection on our part that he be tried and punished appropriately, but by resorting to such tactics, the DEA made itself look bad while simultaneously making Chong a victim.

The DEA’s dedication to cleaning our streets of drugs is commendable, as are the many risks they take and the sacrifices they make while on the job. But incidents like the one with Chong turn a blind eye on all the good they have done. Police brutality is nothing new, but seeing somebody like Chong who is so close to our age and at a UC school where many of us plan to go makes the incident so much more real.

Though we are absolutely disgusted with how Chong was treated and condemn police brutality on any and every level, we don’t think now is the time to put oil to the fire and jump on the bandwagon attacking law enforcement. Sure, there are cops who abuse their power, like the DEA agents involved in Chong’s case, but there are bad seeds in any group of people.

Let’s not forget the good that often times overrides the bad and generalize all law enforcement as being corrupt and brutal. That’s just not the case. It feels good to rebel against authority, but keep in mind the thousands of officers and agents who died on the job standing up for the law and protecting the public.

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Schools should close on April 24

We know the story. Turkey committed genocide, Armenians have been furious and grieving for almost a century, and every year, on April 24, they gather to protest.

The cold-blooded murder and crimes committed against over one million people should never be forgotten, no matter what century we are in.

The second most closely studied genocide after the Holocaust, the Armenian Genocide has been recognized and repeatedly acknowledged by the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS). The IAGS continues to assert that the atrocity took place and calls for Turkey to acknowledge the brutal actions against not only Armenians, but other Christian minorities that had fallen victim to the Ottoman Empire, including Pontian and Anatolian Greeks, as well as Assyrians.

Although the United States has yet to recognize the genocide, despite its repeated yet unfulfilled promises to do so, many Armenians take the day off from work or school on April 24 in order to honor their ancestors and give them proper commemoration, hoping that Turkey and the United States will finally acknowledge the atrocities committed against their people.

Glendale has the largest population of Armenians outside of Armenia itself, with about 30 percent making up the city’s population. With so many students absent from school due to the anniversary of the genocide, we can’t help but wonder why the district does not just give students the day off.

According to school board member and California State Assembly candidate Greg Krikorian, the district has contemplated the idea due to the large Armenian population, having already accommodated school calendars to work around Eastern Orthodox Christmas celebrations on January 6 and 7, during which many Armenians celebrate the holiday. He predicts that students should have the day off soon, as the district creates its master calendar every two years and only just completed the 2012-2013 years. The main “hurdle” that stands in the district’s way is that, under federal law, schools must be open for an “x number of days,” and once they organize the schedule to work around the Armenian Genocide anniversary, they will have to get the date approved by the teachers union.

Though we understand there are many students at the school not tied to the Armenian Genocide, a great majority of students are absent on that day, anyway.

In fact, by recognizing April 24 as Armenian Genocide Day, the district promotes cultural awareness among the diverse cultural groups in our schools. After all, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa dubbed April 15 “Mariah Carey Day” after the release of her album, E=MC², so why not dub April 24 as “Armenian Genocide Day?” It will no doubt bring more awareness to the issue and be another stepping stone in bringing the perpetrators of the genocide to justice.

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LA Times faces moral conflict

Let’s be realistic. This is a cold, harsh and disgusting world. Seeing violent photos and videos of people being bombed and shot to death is nothing new. In fact, it’s become so normal, that no matter how bad the photos are, they never seem bad enough to hold our attention for long.

Starving children with swollen bellies? Sad. More soldiers dead because of an IED? Bummer. An entire village massacred? Oh, well, that’s life.

However, there is one set of photos that has taken the media world by storm.

In 2010, American soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division and several Afghani officers took photos of themselves with the body parts of suicide bombers who blew themselves up.

During times of war, nobody expects peace; however, we do expect those serving our country and representing what we stand for—freedom and justice—to carry themselves with dignity and respect. Taking photos with decapitated body parts is far from what we would call “respectable.”

Despite their despicable actions, it’s not the soldiers who are receiving criticism from the public, but the Los Angeles Times (LAT) for publishing the photos.

Though United States officials asked the LAT not to publish the photos for fear of retaliation against U.S. Soldiers, no official news embargo had been placed; therefore, nothing but a moral conscience could keep the newspaper from making the photos public.

We have to admit that by publishing the photos, the LAT made it seem as if it was choosing to exploit this opportunity for a catchy headline. After thinking about all of the consequences involved, including the possible retaliation against U.S. soldiers by the Taliban, we came to the conclusion that, as a news source, the Times was obligated to report something so mind-boggling.

These photos go against everything that we stand for as a country. True, nobody would have known had the LAT not published them, but is that really the course that we want journalism to take? For news sources to only report news stories that are “convenient?”

The LAT had every right to publish the photos. They decided to take the objective, not subjective, road, and we stand by their decision.

Although the body parts belonged to terrorists, it doesn’t justify the behavior of the soldiers involved. At the end of the day, we’re all human. There is no glory in war, whether or not we win.

We have no right to judge the men and women who serve our country and sacrifice so much for us to be able to live the comfortable lives we do, but what the soldiers did is pretty low, and is unacceptable.

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Standing ground for Trayvon

If a woman kills a man as she is about to be raped, one can say it’s justified murder. If someone kills a burglar that has a gun pointed to a child’s head, one can say that it’s also justified.

But what about a 17-year-old who is shot to death by the neighborhood watch captain, who’s walking from the drugstore to visit his father’s fiancé in a gated community?

There has been a lot of controversy surrounding the murder of Trayvon Martin, the Florida teenager killed by George Zimmerman.

The issue over his unexpected and seemingly unjust death has been escalated because Martin was black and wearing a hoodie, which many people say led Zimmerman to racially profile Martin as a hoodlum.

Zimmerman was never charged with Martin’s death, due to Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law which stipulates that if a person feels threatened, he can take action against someone before they are harmed.

This isn’t the Wild West. States should not have a law that easily gives criminals an excuse to kill.

The details over Martin’s death are hazy, with some witnesses claiming that Zimmerman did nothing to help after he fired the shot while others claim he made the 9-11 call. Whatever the case may be, Zimmerman was too quick to act and a boy lost his life before he could defend himself from accusations of assault, as Zimmerman claimed Martin knocked him down and tried taking his gun.

For all we know, Martin could have felt threatened by Zimmerman and was trying to defend himself. Or maybe Zimmerman’s claims are true. Either way, we will never know because Zimmerman decided to “stand his ground.”

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Checking out the librarians

Libraries are as old and ancient as many civilizations, the world’s first dating back to 2600 BC. Similarly, librarians can be traced all the way back to ancient Sumer, where they were specifically trained to keep records and were referred to as “Masters of the Books” or “Keepers of the Tablets.”

Every library has a librarian, the two just come hand in hand. Nowadays, librarians, like the ones in ancient Sumer, are trained for their jobs. Not only do they have teaching credentials, but a credential called the Teacher Librarian Service Credential, which prepares individuals in coordinating libraries in compliance with district guidelines and supervising library programs.

So why, after having required librarians to get credentials in order to be fully prepared, is the district contemplating replacing them with regular desk clerks?

The answer is simple: lack of green paper.

The Glendale News Press states that though the decision is not final, the district is trying to organize a new design for school libraries, in which “low-level support staff” administers the facilities while being managed by an assistant principal. In turn, the current librarians at Hoover, Crescenta Valley, Glendale and Clark Magnet High Schools will be transferred to classrooms.

Although the proposed change will ease the strain on the district’s evanescent budget and allow school libraries to be open for longer hours after school, is replacing librarians with desk clerks really the best solution to keeping libraries open?

It may seem like all librarians do is check in and check out books while collecting fines, but it goes beyond pink collar, or bookkeeping, work. Lisa Parrish reads over many books to decide which are worth keeping and which she needs to toss out to make room for more reading material. Despite meager funding, she does her best to run the library, constantly applying for grants from various sources and writing up reports about the library’s functioning and financial concerns.

Wouldn’t you rather have somebody at the library who knows how to work the computers, has experience dealing with the government and private sectors for funding, and can guide you in the right direction when it comes to conducting research?

Libraries shouldn’t be put on the back burner when it comes to funding. If librarians need special credentials in order to do their job, there must be a reason. The more a person knows about the job and is trained in it, the more he can help.

We get rid of librarians now, what’s next? Libraries?

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Take it easy on Mr. S

There are always those special people who can brighten your day up with a smile or their courteous hellos and goodbyes, leaving you to wonder why there couldn’t be more people like them in the world.

At our school, that one person can always be seen rushing about the halls for no apparent reason, always stopping to say hello and wishing you a great day or a great weekend before rushing off again, his twinkling blue eyes reminiscent of Santa Clause and his elbow pads always intact.

George Stasuc, popularly known as Mr. S, is probably one of the most loved substitutes ever. Ask alumni who graduated seven, eight years ago about this man, and even they will light up at the mention of the quirky man with the Eastern European accent and friendly disposition. Until now, they too always wonder and guess what the famous “S” stands for, as he always politely declined telling us.

His courteous and loved reputation along with his mysterious name is almost a living legend at the school, so when one behaviorally problematic and attention-seeking student claims that Mr. S pushed him, was it really fair for administration to consider firing him while keeping him on probation for three weeks?

Students and teacher alike were outraged at the possibility of his dismissal, both bodies starting petitions in order to fight for this beloved man. Honestly, since when have students cared about substitutes who have lost their jobs or even been fired? We’ve already seen a few long-term teachers who’ve been fired over the past few years, and none caused so much controversy and anger as the mere possibility that Mr. S might be taken from the school and his proud students.

According to two eye witnesses, about ten students from Bruce Galli’s freshman English class were stirring trouble and refusing to cooperate as Mr. S told them to settle down. As most of us have had Mr. S as a substitute, we know that his way of telling students to be quiet is polite, sometimes too much so for undeserving students. For heaven’s sake, the man holds out the seat for you to sit in, he doesn’t rattle or push you in.

The two eyewitnesses say that though Mr. S pushed a table over, the students were not in their seats and nobody had been physically touched. The student then pushed the table over again and Mr. S. called security to escort seven to 10 of the hooligans downstairs.

In all of our years at high school, we’ve had Mr. S as a sub too many times to keep track. In order for him to resort to calling security, a student must be way out of line, for he has always avoided stirring unnecessary trouble for students. Most of the time, students, even those who talk too much, goof around and are usually troublesome still like and respect him enough not give him a hard time.

Student and teacher petitioners all banded together to vouch for Mr. S’ character on the very first day that they heard of the ordeal, determined to let school officials know that they would not let Mr. S lose his job without a fight.

AP Spanish Literature teacher Martha Cooper says that she has used Mr. S as a sub “for years and years and years,” which is saying something because she is very choosy about which substitutes she lets into her classrooms, and the injustice of it all just “saddens” her.

Thankfully, Mr. S has his job back, but were it not for the efforts of the student and teacher bodies, there was a possibility that he might not have been able to return. Despite the administration’s familiarity with Mr. S, there is only so much they can do when it comes to a student claiming physical abuse.

Push comes to shove, if you want to make a difference in just one person’s life, make sure your voice is heard. It took one student, senior Dahn Kim, to unite all students and gather support for Mr. S in large numbers, but like American anthropologist Margaret Mead once advised, “never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens” can make a difference because “it’s the only thing that ever does,” whether it’s a sub who never fails to brighten up your day or a student who tries to stand up for him.

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Love defines marriage

Love is said to have no boundaries. It does not discriminate with age, race, or even social status, but what about gender?

In the battle of legalizing gay marriage, or worded in a more fitting way, the equalization of marriage, a United States Court of Appeals in San Francisco found that Prop. 8 violated the civil liberties of same-sex couples.

Prop. 8 was a voter passed legislation in 2008 that banned the marriage of same-sex couples, which quickly led to appeals all over the state.

How is the marriage between two men or two women wrong? Twenty states, including California, allow first cousins to marry each other, when we have been enlightened with inbreeding and other biological risks of marrying close to your kin. What will a happy, same-sex couple do to harm you?

One can argue that “gay” marriage is immoral as per their religious belief, but most if not all religious beliefs advocate one to be good to one’s neighbor. Hate has and always will be a sin and the spite expressed by many “religious” people constitutes hate.

Although the Court of Appeals found it unconstitutional to ban same-sex marriage, marriage ceremonies won’t begin until the Supreme Court decides on whether they are going to take on the matter. (And by the looks of the situation with the backlog in the Supreme Court, this won’t be until next year.)
Straight. Gay. Black. White. We’re all people. We all deserve happiness and it is downright wrong to say that two people who love each other cannot marry one another just because they are of the same gender.

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CV Suicide Opens Eyes

Life is short and beautiful, not in the rainbows, sunshine and unicorns “kumbaya” kind of way, but with a sense of chiaroscuro, a brilliant fusion of light and dark.

Unfortunately, some of us lean more toward that darker side where it’s difficult to see clearly.

On Feb. 10, 15-year old Drew Ferraro from Crescenta Valley High School committed suicide. Administrators and students alike had to witness the ordeal as it unfolded before them. Within seconds, he was gone forever.

In recent years, there has been an increase in teens and adolescents who have put an end to their own lives. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, suicide is the third leading cause of death among people within the 15- to 24-year-old age group, usually due to bullying, drug abuse, depression, and personal problems.

In a survey taken by The National Violence Youth Prevention Program, it was discovered that in the past year, one in five teens contemplated suicide, one in six planned it, and more than one in 12 actually made an attempt. Almost half of teens who succeed in killing themselves have attempted to before.

Suicide is a cry for help.When someone takes his own life, people need to realize that he has reached a hopeless state.

People react differently to suicides: pity over lost years, anger over a selfish decision, or sympathy.

This world is definitely not a place overloaded with rainbows, but teens shouldn’t have to think about killing themselves and they certainly shouldn’t have to see somebody commit the act. Too many people put an end to their lives when it has the potential to be so much better, Ferraro being one of them.

However, he was a young adult with a future full of possibilities. He was a student with teachers and friends. He was a child with parents and a family.

Not only is he gone, but those who loved him most are forever scarred with his absence, forever haunted by the thought that maybe they could have done something to help before Ferrero shouted out his last cry for help.

Maybe his suicide was his desperate attempt to bring attention to himself and the misery that led him to such an act. Maybe he made it public for people to know that he was hurting and perhaps for those who saw him to never forget that he was once alive. Maybe it was his way of making his mark on the world.

His parents blame his suicide on bullying, and since his death have taken an anti-bullying stance.

At his memorial service, they handed out cards with Ferraro’s picture and information for suicide prevention to inspire others to live, and for that, we respect them.

Ferraro shouldn’t have died, but let his death not have been in vain.

Let Ferrero be a beacon of hope for those who contemplate suicide and a reminder for bullies that sticks and stones can break bones, and that words can kill.

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French accept Armenian Genocide

Imagine somebody you loved was brutally killed after being tortured for hours, days, maybe even weeks and months. You know this for a fact, but police refused to do anything about it because it required too much work to deal with all the investigation that would take place, or because the killer was a very powerful, very influential individual that nobody wanted to risk crossing. No matter how calm or peaceful of a person you may be, you wouldn’t be able to help but feel gut-wrenching anger as to how such a blatant injustice is possible.

For years, the Armenian community has been fighting for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide that resulted in the deaths of an estimated 1.5 million people by the order of the Ottoman Empire. Every year, on Apr. 24, Armenian youth and elderly alike gather to protest in front of the Turkish Embassy in Hollywood. Though the United States and several other countries have declined to officially accept that massacre ever took place, it seems that years of loud and dedicated protest have finally resulted in a major leap toward the universal acceptance of the genocide.

Last Monday, France approved a bill that criminalizes the denial of any recognized genocide, including the Armenian Genocide. If France’s president, Nicolas Sarkozy, officially makes the bill part of French law, those who deny recognized genocides will have to pay a fine close to $58,000 or even face up to a year in prison.

These measures may seem drastic, but do not even begin to equate to the millions of lives lost to genocides all over the world. What we like in particular about this bill is that it not only bans the denial of the Armenian Genocide, but of any genocide that has taken place.

The acceptance of the mass killings of Armenians in particular has infuriated Turkey, who has been denying that such acts occurred for close to a century.

According to Scott Sayare and Sebnem Arsu of the New York Times, Turkey has pulled its diplomats out of France, refused military cooperation, and suspended mutual agreements between the two countries in response—more like retaliation—to the bill.

Still, French politicians persisted and for that we have to applaud them. They not only risked very poor relations with a very important Middle Eastern ally, but will have to deal with 400,000 angry citizens that are of Turkish descent.

One country accepting the genocide may not seem like much of a big deal, but after working so hard to make the unjust affair known worldwide, it gives Armenians—and those still suffering from genocide in different parts of the world—hope that such brutal acts will not be tolerated in the future, that voicing our opinions in the face of scrutiny and what may seem like a dead end will be worth the time effort if weif we remain ardently persistent.

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The websites strike back

There’s nothing more endearing than seeing our fellow peers, who were once indifferent towards politics, suddenly jump at the opportunity to swat down the two pesky flies otherwise known as the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA). These two proposed laws would have directly affected the youth of our generation by making navigating the Internet a wearying experience. Essentially, anything could be deemed as copyright infringement, resulting in a floor filled with sharp shards of egg shells.

Even if that is the only reason behind why Internet users reacted violently, the force created by massive waves of people prevailed, and rightfully so. On Jan. 18, when Wikipedia shut down its English domain and Google blacked out its logo, the commotion was prevalent throughout the Internet community.

Over the span of three climactic days, it became prevalent how unpleased the online community was. Each site that staged a protest asked individuals to sign a petition against the unsettling laws. Keep in mind, this was only what came from those who could not do anything more direct to prevent the passing of the bills.

Naturally, 7 million signatures did not stop the federal government from giving its last, mocking jab. Following the online protests, the FBI readily shut down the file-sharing and video-streaming websites Megaupload and Megavideo, respectively.

At this point, the more potent attacks against the bills were launched. Anonymous, an activist group that was created, as some would say, “by the people, for the people,” allegedly broke into, and shut off, several of the government’s, as well as the media’s, prized websites.

By Jan. 20, the day after Anonymous performed its string of hacks, SOPA and PIPA were immediately dropped by Congress, for the time being.

One cannot stand at the face of what the recent protests have accomplished and say that there is no hope for humankind, even if sometimes that becomes increasingly debatable. As the remnants of SOPA and PIPA are being salvaged by its momentarily discouraged supporters, there is now more need than ever for common residents to maintain a healthy level of awareness. With the activist attitudes that prominent websites have, it must be emphasized that, no matter how influential they are, they would be nothing without the support and endorsement of their users.

Walking the tightrope that separates illegal activity and free speech is tricky, but SOPA and PIPA would have taken the entire ordeal much too far by stripping the simple acts of sharing art and culture of their very purposes. No one can deny that pirating a film is illegal, but everyone can agree that performing a cover of a song does harm to no one, especially not to the artists who wade knee-deep through piles of money on a daily basis.

In the light of all that has been done to capture the government’s attention, and warn it of the people’s capabilities, we are not encouraging you to run outside head-first with flaming torches, but please, do be aware of, and participate in, this society. No one can sleep peacefully yet, since SOPA and PIPA are simply lying dormant until they return with more gusto.

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Curriculum integrates LGBT

During the past decade, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) community has fought for its rights with a caliber of success that only a few years ago may have seemed preposterous and impossible.

Its cries for fairness and equality have been so loud in recent years that it seems the law has finally decided to stop playing deaf and actually hear them out.

Gov. Jerry Brown passed a law during the summer that mandates elementary and secondary schools to add LGBT history to their curricula. The new law, called the California Fair Education Act (CFEA), also requires educators to teach students about contributions made by Native Americans and disabled people.

As long as LGBT history is integrated as yet another chapter in history, and not as separate curricula, then the change is certainly a positive one that will fall along the lines of desegregating schools and teaching students black history.

The Los Angeles Unified School District has chosen to embrace the mandate, giving its schools a 60-day time slot to create a curriculum that includes LGBT history, whereas most California schools have chosen a slower approach due to the issue’s controversy.

It is very admirable of our neighboring school district to so eagerly promote tolerance in the community. After all the anti-gay bullying that has taken place, it only makes sense that the state and school districts would seek ways to prevent similar occurrences in the future.

Ignorance, no doubt, has played a key role in the mistreatment of non-heterosexual people. Many have this insane notion that if students are taught LGBT history, they will somehow magically turn gay…as if a transgender fairy godmother is going to appear out of thin air and cast a gay spell over all the little children.

Whether this belief is influenced by religion, upbringing or sexual preference, it is flat-out wrong to ostracize people based on something as insignificant to one’s character and morality as sexual orientation.

Once people are taught LGBT history at a young age, they will grow to be more accepting than preceding generations. Being exposed to various sexual orientations will help students see homosexuals, bisexuals and transgenders as normal people. The purpose of the law is not to out every single historical figure that may or may not have been gay, but to show that a person’s ability to function in society and impact history is not influenced by desire to be with a man or a woman.

We had our objections to the CFEA at first—not because we are homophobic or morally against it, but because we believed that teaching LGBT history as a separate curriculum would further ostracize non-heterosexual people.

It will take a few years until new history textbooks that meet the new criteria are published and distributed to schools, but until then, teaching LGBT history with a certain level of distinctness may in fact be healthy due to the mixed and confused views on homosexuality. It will give people time to digest the fact that non-heterosexual people will finally have their own place in history while giving teachers time to provide students with a newer, more tolerant and objective perspective on sexuality.

Ignorance isn’t bliss. The new law, while long overdue, has finally arrived.

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