highschool newspaper is shut down after discussing LGBTQIA+ issues

On March 31 at Northwest High School, in Grand Island Nebraska, the school newspaper received an announcement straight from the administrators shutting down their paper and the ability to publish it from now on. This came after three transgender students were ordered to use their birth name for bylines because using their preferred names was too “controversial”. In retaliation, the students dedicated the entirety of their final issue in June to LGBTQ issues and the history of Pride Month. The school, even more infuriated than before, decided to shut down the school newspaper for good. The school paper, Viking Saga, had about 15 students as staff and has been running for 54 years.

This is just one of the many ways LGBTQ voices are being silenced all around the country. I talked to Aspen Czarnecki, the president of the LGBTQIA+ club here at Palisade to understand the importance of giving everyone the right to speak and having their voices heard. “I just think it’s really important to create a safe space for students to feel like they can voice themselves. As our society is growing and changing we have to become more adaptive to the idea that people's genders and sexualities are entirely fluid. While I understand that it can be hard for some people, just because it’s hard for them doesn’t mean we should take away the right to talk about it for the people it’s not hard for. Just because it’s not your thing doesn’t mean you shouldn’t respect other people's opinions and their rights to talk about themselves or just LGBTQIA+ stuff in general.”

Clearly, all students and people in the LGBTQIA+ community should have the right to voice and write their opinions all over the country, whether it’s here or Grand Island Nebraska.