HOUSTON – On Friday, a student-led rally was held outside Sharpstown International School.
Many of the participants are members of the Gay Straight Alliance, a student-run club sanctioned by the school with a faculty sponsor and dedicated meeting space.
The group’s organizer claims their recent efforts to raise awareness were sabotaged when she and other members started posting flyers inside the school, trying to get the word out about Monday’s grand opening of the group’s safe zone for all students.
“We put up posters to announce that our GSA room was open and people on the staff tore them down, all 250 of them,” Skylinn Anderson said.
Anderson is a senior and claims the two school staff members who tore down the flyers did so because they thought they were inappropriate.
“It makes us upset and angry that we work so hard for something and then you have people who want to discriminate and rip down our hard work,” Anderson said.
HISD says the school’s administration fully supports the organization.
“(We are) …aware of reports that school-sanctioned GSA fliers were taken down by a teaching assistant. That incident has been handled administratively. To ensure equity amongst all student groups, the school administration is strengthening the process for posting fliers (they must be approved by the administration and posted in designated locations) and distributing the policy to student organizations and staff," Lila Hollin said in a statement.