PA Students Dismayed as LGBTQ+ Support is Wiped Out by Activist Administrators

Under the guise of removing political messages administrators in one PA high school have forced the removal of any sign of support for LGBTQ+ youth.

by Evan Urquhart

In parts of the country young people are living through a backlash against their humanity, and one of the most poignant of these stories is happening in Upper Bucks County, PA, where all stickers and signs supportive of LGBTQ+ identities were ordered removed by administrators from one year to the next, according to reporting by Philadelphia public radio station WHYY. The measure was presented as neutral, a matter of removing political messages regardless of content. In practice there was one message, the message that LGBTQ+ students are safe and supported, that was once plentiful and is now gone.

Queer students in Pennridge High School feel targeted, and it’s easy to understand why. Treating a sign that says “this is a safe space for LGBTQ+ youth” as an inappropriate political message is itself a political message, a message that offering safety to queer students is controversial and up for debate.

People with anti-LGBTQ+ views often take a posture of neutrality to mask the cruelty of their attacks on queer people. They cast simple messages of tolerance and support as political, and therefore indecent. In this case, the result of young people having signs saying they are safe stripped from classroom doors is a particularly stark reminder of how a false pose of apolitical neutrality can camouflage a noxious intent.