High school faces backlash over ‘have a gay summer’ sign
The offending display board (Dartmouth Public Schools)
A Massachusetts high school is facing backlash over a bulletin board encouraging students to “have a gay summer”.
Dartmouth High School parent Lynne Turner shared a photo of the display on Facebook on Monday. The message was written in large block letters across a green board, alongside Pride flags and rainbow-coloured sticky notes.
“This is NOT ok. It needs to be removed, and an apology needs to be made,” Turner wrote. “DHS, pushing gay ideology on our youth is NOT your place!”
Turner said she had spoken with DHS principal Ryan Shea, who told her the board was created by the school’s Gay-Straight Alliance student group with an adult sponsor’s approval.
She said he told her he had no problem with it because the messages were positive, and that it would stay up until the end of term.
Turner said she told him she viewed the sign as “grooming”, which he denied, telling her he “highly doubts that someone walking by the bulletin board will want to become gay”.
Her post drew a wave of angry responses online, with some echoing the “grooming” claim and others making openly homophobic remarks.
Others defended the display, accusing critics of homophobia and noting the message was a harmless play on words.
“Seeing the word gay won’t make a straight kid gay, but it might brighten up a gay kid’s day,” one wrote. “These are high school students; they’re old enough to know gay people exist.”
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