Gay, Mentally Challenged Biracial Male Cheerleader Claims Discrimination

[roo_ster]

No, I am not making this up and it is not from the Onion.

Mash the link to see the video, too.  Words can not describe.




http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/dailyweekly/2010/02/gay_mentally_challenged_bi-rac.php

Even in 2010, growing up gay isn't easy. Add in the complicating factors of being a mentally challenged, biracial guy who wants to wave around pom-poms in a small town, and you have a recipe for the most hellacious high school experience in Eastern Washington.

Benjamin Grundy is a student at Garfield-Palouse High School (local population: 1,100) who says the school is discriminating against his wishes to do what all the other cheerleaders are doing. Namely, dance, wave pom-poms, wear a proper uniform and not just stand like there like a statue moving his arms.

That's what Grundy and his mom say he's been reduced to since the cheerleading coach instructed him he couldn't gyrate his hips like the girls do and the athletic director allegedly suggested he be the team mascot. Since writing letters to ACLU and a local congresswoman, Garfield has offered Grundy a uniform and pom-poms. But that's not enough, says his mom.

As you can see in the video above, Grundy's mother is what you might refer to as a Grizzly Bear. A primal necessity considering (and this can't be emphasized enough) Grundy is a mentally challenged, biracial gay kid growing up in a small town who wants to be a cheerleader. So excuse her when she says she wants to take her poor son's plight to Congress. She's just acting the way any Mama Bear would when her cub was born with a "torment me" sign stuck to his back.


His "mental challenge" is more along the lines of an emotional challenge, as he has been diagnosed with Aspergers.

One of the commenters posted:
"This is what happens when you remove the "clip behind the ear" from your repertoire the first time some dumbass comes up with something f----- up."
I gotta agree.  Yes, some questions are dumb and some ideas deserve nothing more than the back of one's hand.  He and his mother could use a smack with a cluebat.

Comments in support of the student would be hilarious were they not so lacking in sense of proportion, as a common theme is some bastardization of Martin Niemöller's poem.

Folks gotta understand that most of us don't care if they want to be a freak or act out their childhood issues in pathetic ways.  Using one's liberty to embrace one's inner freakshow is one's business.  But, social misfits have no legitimate claim to require our assistance in elevating their bizarre behavior into a mass spectacle to feed their inner drama queen.

[MicroBalrog]

I'm failing to see the problem. Male cheerleaders do exist.

[Fistful]

True; the problem isn't very clearly explained.  I'm guessing the school isn't sure what to do with a dude cheerleader, since he's the only one.

But who knows? 

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

I'm not really seeing a problem, either.  It's fine with me if the kid wants to try to be a gay, interracial, challenged female cheerleader.  And it's fine with me if his mother wants to try to help her kid do it.  And it's also fine with me if the cheerleading coach and the school say he's not up to snuff for that particular position.

I guess the only real gripe would be the manor in which the mother is trying to help her kid, the fuss she's trying to make over it.

[Jimmy Dean]

I think that instead of beinga  traditional male cheerleader, who holds the girls up, grabs their asses, and tosses them in the air and stuff,  he wants to be the one in the pyramid, being tossed up, etc etc etc.......don't think I have ever seen a male cheerleader with pom poms either....

[MicroBalrog]

I think that instead of beinga  traditional male cheerleader, who holds the girls up, grabs their asses, and tosses them in the air and stuff,  he wants to be the one in the pyramid, being tossed up, etc etc etc.......don't think I have ever seen a male cheerleader with pom poms either....

Let me fix that:

[Fistful]

It is now clear that the school has erred in giving him pom-poms. 

[JamisJockey]

I say suck it up.  "No" is a word commonly used during ones life. 

[Jocassee]

It is now clear that the school has erred in giving him pom-poms. 

But I'd say refusing to allow gyrating hips was a step in the right direction.

[MicroBalrog]

I say suck it up.  "No" is a word commonly used during ones life. 

Too late for that sort of thing. The school has already surrendered on the pom-pom issue.

[geronimotwo]

as i was reading this thread, my 5yo daughter started giggling at the pictures of the male cheerleaders....... i guess that should about sum it up.  when i asked her what was so funny, she said "boys with pom-poms".  evidently it's just an unnatural act of some kind.

[Standing Wolf]

Well, yeah, but he/she/it has a great future in Washington, D.C.

[adively]

Well, yeah, but he/she/it has a great future in Washington, D.C.

Scary but so true, maybe a major player in the Dems.

[freakazoid]

Oh teh noes, next they'll be allowing women to play sports. 

[griz]

Folks gotta understand that most of us don't care if they want to be a freak or act out their childhood issues in pathetic ways.  Using one's liberty to embrace one's inner freakshow is one's business.  But, social misfits have no legitimate claim to require our assistance in elevating their bizarre behavior into a mass spectacle to feed their inner drama queen.

I nominate this for the gold medal in the Painful Truth Paragraph catagory for 2010.  If they had paragraph writing cheerleaders they would be shaking their Pom Poms right now.

[bluestarlizzard]

i would be guessing that this cheer squad is a modern cheer squad. which means competition. hard core compatition, i might add.
you think the state football playoffs are cutthrought? go to a cheer camp...

teenage girls are evil, and teenage girls with short skirts and pompoms are the devil incarnate.
and they certainly are not gonna play nice with a kid thats gonna mess up their chance at a trophy.
i feel for the athletic director. she/he is expected to do the best by all the kids and win trophys AND keep things from becoming an all out war on the squad.

whats more, most squads that have guys, need the guys in the male uniforms doing the male things. theres usually just not enough male cheerleaders to go around.

[MechAg94]

As competitive as the selection process usually is, I am surprised they let him on the squad.  I wonder if they let him on thinking he would be a male cheerleader without realizing he wanted to be "one of the girls". 

[MechAg94]

Okay, I noticed the Mom did post comments (at least she claimed to be) and posted more info.  The kid does want to be "one of the girls" and it sounds like a lot of the girls don't want to cheer with him as they apparently have trouble finding enough.  It sounds like the school screwed up and let him cheer in the same uniform as the girl cheerleaders previously.  IMO, that is where they messed up.  They should have insisted he wear the male uniform.

[bluestarlizzard]

Okay, I noticed the Mom did post comments (at least she claimed to be) and posted more info.  The kid does want to be "one of the girls" and it sounds like a lot of the girls don't want to cheer with him as they apparently have trouble finding enough.  It sounds like the school screwed up and let him cheer in the same uniform as the girl cheerleaders previously.  IMO, that is where they messed up.  They should have insisted he wear the male uniform.

wants to be one of the girls? is the kid really just transgender? which i might add would be a mom screw up. if thats what he really wants (and yes, i would say needs) then she needs to move him to a place where he can be a girl. all the time. and as a girl, being a member of the squad shouldn't be that much of an issue (unless he is a crappy cheerleader)

[Gewehr98]

He ain't exactly bustin' some snappy moves in the videos I've seen. 

[Viking]

He ain't exactly bustin' some snappy moves in the videos I've seen. 

You are just clinging on to the old fashioned view that people need to be good at (activity X) to be a part of the team. Won't you think of his FEELINGS and how they are more important than him having any talent for it?

[MicroBalrog]

He ain't exactly bustin' some snappy moves in the videos I've seen. 

It's difficult to do that when you're not allowed to move your legs.

[Gewehr98]

IMHO, he just wants to get "special" attention.  

[bluestarlizzard]

this is cheerleading.not football or marching band.

in football, the way to win the game has nothing to do with appearance. which is why if some random girl wants to be on the team (and can play at that level)... sure, why not. your not gonna even really be able to distiguish her on the feild, with all those pads and helmets and whatnot. soccer, basketball (well those usually have dedicated female teams in HS) same thing. she's got to play at the boys level and thats possible. appearnce makes no diffrence in being able to play the game.

now, marching band appearance is important. the band members must appear to be uniform. which is why you have these big hulking uniforms that no one looks good in induvidually but put them on a football feild together and they all look good and look alike.

flag squads, dance squads and cheerleading all have the same need to appear uniform, but can't be bundled up in bulky uniforms that disgues them as effectivly as the marching bands uniforms. they have to look insync and have a very similar overall look. now, is this always held too? no, your not gonna get girls that all look alike, so efforts are made with uniforms to trick the eye. same hair arrengement, same colors, same movements and you have a uniform squad. (hell, they even do the same makeup)

so if this boy can't really cheer, and can't appear uniform even in uniform then its not gonna work. plus, you have an appearance driven competion which means the judges are gonna take issue with a boy in a skirt.

could they make it work? yeah, probably. buy a whole new set of outfits (and discard all the old ones, even though most squads have at hand two or three diffrent sets and contiue to use the old ones after they get new ones) and retrain the whole squad to cheer in a mannor that utilizes the induvidual boy with pom poms.
and then hope like hell you did it well enough to please judges...

[scout26]

Folks gotta understand that most of us don't care if they want to be a freak or act out their childhood issues in pathetic ways.  Using one's liberty to embrace one's inner freakshow is one's business.  But, social misfits have no legitimate claim to require our assistance in elevating their bizarre behavior into a mass spectacle to feed their inner drama queen.

I nominate this for the gold medal in the Painful Truth Paragraph catagory for 2010.  If they had paragraph writing cheerleaders they would be shaking their Pom Poms right now.

I know the mods frown upon hate this, but:

FARKING +1