PDA: Same sex couples receive harsher enforcement

Giovanna Vega
Chronicle Contributor

The new administration as a whole is cracking the whip — the easy going attitude of past years is no more.

Public displays of affection, more commonly referred to as PDA, are certainly no exception to this demand for disciplinary reform. PDA, seemingly sweet to those participating, can be inappropriate at times, some might even say distracting and distasteful. As a mature young lady, I have come to understand that there is a time and a place for young couples to kissI personally have no protestation to the administration breaking up couples that are making out in the middle of the quad, even if I am one of the parties involved. This being said, I personally feel victimized by the administration on matters of PDA.  I understand why a staff member would tell me to stop kissing my girlfriend in public. What I do not understand is how hugging, or even simply standing close to my girlfriend, is considered inappropriate enough for action to be taken against us. Numerous times, my girlfriend and I have been scolded for hugging. One time, an administrator even yelled at my girlfriend for holding me while I cried. He could clearly see that I was upset and crying, yet he continued to tell my girlfriend that he thought that what we were doing was inappropriate and that we should separate.I could live with the sense of injustice these events caused me to feel if I knew that my girlfriend and I were the only gay couple being harassed. When I brought up this topic to discuss in a meeting of the Gay-Straight Alliance club, I learned that I am not alone.Other couples feel discriminated as well. The PDA policy does not seem to apply to straight couples, but gay couples cannot walk through the halls without receiving disapproving looks from authority figures.In school, students are not only supposed to feel safe, but we are supposed to feel accepted.The new administration has gone to great lengths, with programs like math tutoring during advisory, to ensure students that a better learning environment can be theirs. They have held several assemblies and familiarized the student body with their faces and their intentions. Are they not the people we are supposed to look up to? Yet I have seen unbelievable amounts of bias from certain faculty members.I cannot even stand to look some faculty members in the eye anymore simply because they have made me feel ashamed of who I am.The hypocrisy of their biased discipline has deeply discouraged me; I have never been bullied by a student before- only the faculty.I am mature enough to realize that everyone is entitled to his or her own opinions and beliefs. My intentions are not to justify my displays of affection, or even to scold those who punish me.They are not to convert, nor to push. I am not looking to be victimized for my sexual orientation; however, when I have been scolded numerous times for hugging my girlfriend while other straight couples are making out, one must wonder: why me? If I was hugging a boy, would it even be an issue?Teenagers are discriminated for so many other things- age, race, clothes, the friends they have, and sexual orientation. All I ask for is equality inside of my school.

 

 

 

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