In Wheatland, the students are the ones who make sense

Susan Greene wrote a column in today's Denver Post about the now-infamous banning of the ADL's "No Place for Hate" banners by the Platte County School Board in Wheatland. This is the first place where I've seen the term "Hategate." I, for one, am disappointed that we've come to the point where this incident is now a "-gate." I thought we'd all outgrown Watergate and Plamegate and Troopergate and Gategate (made up that last one).

The column ends with a thoughtful quote from a Wheatland High School student. Many of the most incisive protests against the school board's decision have come from students. They are learning a valuable lesson in "How the Real World Works." Let's hope they use this hard-earned knowledge to lead Wyoming forward rather than backward into a dark past.

Here's the comment:

Abbie Geringer, an 18-year-old Wheatland High senior, said she regrets that Hategate is giving her town a bad name.

"The world is looking at us now like we all hate gay people," she says. "Removing the banner reflects the opinions of the school board, not the student body. The world is changing. Board members are way behind the times in that respect."

Geringer is a well-known family name in Platte County. Jim Geringer was governor before Dave Freudenthal. Not sure if Abbie is an offspring of the former Republican Governor, but some parents up there know how to teach their children well -- as the song says.

Read entire Denver Post article at http://www.denverpost.com/commented/ci_14451599?source=commented-#ixzz0gMxXaiEJ