This School Survey Asks If 'Queers' Should Use 'Normal People' Bathrooms

Students at a high school in Illinois circulated a survey "about all the QUEER kids" at their school, asking if "normal people" approved of sharing bathrooms with "queers."

According to WPSD-6, a group calling itself the Anti Queer Association (AQA) passed around a hateful anti-LGBTQ+ survey at Ann-Jonesboro Community High School last week. The anonymous survey asked students to check one of two choices: "(Yes) I want queers to go in the bathroom" or "(No) I don't want queer kids to go to the bathroom with us normal people."

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Rob Wright, superintendent of Anna-Jonesboro Community High School, told WPSD-6 he learned of the survey last Wednesday and immediately began an investigation. He also stressed the school has a zero-tolerance policy regarding harassment and bullying.

"We began investigating, we're still investigating," Wright said. "At this point in time, I really can't give any information regarding any individuals or discipline measures. But, I can tell you that this type of harassment is taken very seriously and will not be tolerated. And once the investigation is complete, the appropriate discipline will take place where warranted."

One local activist said he believes the survey is from a group opposed to the Keep Youth Safety and Healthy Act, which recently became law and, among other guarantees, protects the rights of LGBTQ+ youth in the state.

"My understanding is that it was an association that was brought upon the students and a parent that's cosigning for it that made the Anti-Queer Association, basically trying to repeal the act," said Michael Coleman, who sits on the board of directors of the Rainbow Cafe LGBTQ+ Center in Carbondale, Illinois.

The group reached out to students at Ann-Jonesboro Community High School.

There have been several attacks on school-aged members of the LGBTQ+ community this past year. Earlier this month, two students at Paso Robles High School in California stole a Pride flag hanging in a gay teacher's classroom while class was in session, and then later posted video showing the flag in a toilet and one of the students defecating on it. Last month, school officials said they were investigating after video showed students at Bartram Trail High School in Florida shouting anti-LGBTQ+ slurs at the school's Gay Straight Alliance and stomping on a Pride flag.

"There's only two genders, f*gg*t!" one student can be heard yelling repeatedly on video.

A student at Lowndes High School in Georgia is facing multiple charges after video appeared to show him attacking a fellow student who was wearing a Pride flag in the school's cafeteria, violently throwing the flag into a trash can, and then attacking a fellow student who tried to stop him.

Coleman said his group will host a virtual Safe Zone and Allyship Seminar on November 3. He also hoped students dealing with the aftermath of the survey don't lose hope.

"They really feel very unsafe in that environment in Anna-Jonesboro and that they felt that nothing was going to get done," Coleman said. "That by us taking that stand, that initiative, they really feel like it's not going to happen anymore."

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