He didn't work alone: Local parents (and reportedly a Franklin County school board official) contacted MassResistance, a Massachusetts-based anti-LGBT organization which has been designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).
Wimley, who refused a request for comment, launched a Facebook page to oppose the GSA and urged other parents to crowd public school board meetings in protest of the GSA's presence. "If we allow this club to just pop up, what's next?" John Wimley told WSMV 4, an NBC affiliate. When news of FCHS' GSA became public, some parents there objected too. Two years ago, parents in Elyria, Ohio protested Elyria High School's GSA because they claimed that it promoted premarital sex to children. The clubs also have a well-established legal right to form.īut they are not always welcomed, especially in conservative counties. According to Kari Hudnell, a spokesperson for Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), there are 4,000 GSAs registered with the group across the United States. I've also been called a faggot and a queer."įCHS's GSA isn't unusual. "I have personally been involved with some incidents including one where a high school student threw holy water on me. "It's hard to be an LGBT student in Franklin County," he explained. "I started the club to create a safe environment in which we can talk freely without harassment," he said, adding that he wanted to give students "a voice." In December 2015, FCHS students formed a Gay/Straight Alliance (GSA). But this year, it grabbed national headlines thanks to a different educational institution: Franklin County High School (FCHS). Roughly 8,500 of the county's 41,000 inhabitants live in Winchester, the county seat everyone else lives clustered in smaller, more rural communities.įranklin County is known primarily for being the home of Sewanee: The University of the South (simply 'the University of the South' to locals). There, you'll find Franklin County slung low on the Alabama border. Find a map of Tennessee and trace your finger down its middle to the south.