A gay, mentally challenged, biracial high school student in Eastern Washington, Benjamin Grundy, is being told he cannot perform all of the routines with the girls on the squad. Instead, he’s only allowed to stand there waving his arms. Ben’s mom wrong a very long letter to the Seattle Weekly outlining all of the issues. Among them:
After approximately the first week of practice, the coach implied to me that Ben’s male anatomy might be moving around. I told her I would get him a jock strap to resolve this potential issue. I was ignored. However, because Ben’s ordered uniform had some sort of manufacturing issue, his coach did indeed go and get him a really nice shirt, which she had embroidered, etc. With the warm up pants from his football cheer team and the shirt, he looked like a cheerleader. The shirt was long and the pants were close enough. I went to the first game, and Ben did most of what the girls were doing. He was happy, and therefore, so was I. That was the whole point… that he was doing something that meant a great deal to him.
Since then, apparently, he’s been kept from performing. What is the harm in this kid cheerleading? It’s very sad that this kid can’t just do what he dreams of doing because a bunch of people are worried how it might look.
on Feb 4th, 2010 at 3:35 PM
Reading the story broke my heart. A child like Ben so desperately needs a place to feel like they belong. It sounds like he is committed to doing well, performing well and spreading school spirit.
There is young man in the town in which I used to live that is much like Ben. He desperately wants to be a firefighter. The local FD allowed him to join the company. They got him a set of bunker gear and allow him to participate as a junior FF. (A junior is not permitted to engage in interior firefighting operations and must remain out of hazard zones.) Nonetheless, he assists the crews in salvage and overhaul and other safe on-scene jobs. They firefighters treat him like one of the guys and make sure he knows that the work he does is important. The happiness on this guys’s face is priceless.
It is a sin that the school is depriving themselves and the students of seeing that look by not compromising a little and finding a place for Ben.
on Feb 5th, 2010 at 7:49 AM
It’s breath-taking witnessing the mother fight for her son. If there’s something amazing about mothers, it’s the length and tenacity they will achieve to see to their children’s interests.
I felt saddened by their taking advantage of a disabled person to try to coerce him into invisibility. I actually expected more resistance to an non-handicapped gay guy than a gay guy whose potential activities are so limited by their disability. Why not let him into something as trivial as cheering, when it will greatly improve his quality of life?
She’s veteran, too, with a son in the army. They deserve better.