A principal at a Long Island high school has blocked a group of LGBT and straight students from forming a gay-straight alliance at Valley Stream South High School. The principal, Maureen Henry, denied the request after three students -- with the support of several hundred of their classmates -- submitted a proposal to form an official school club. The students had been working on the proposal since October, and tell the Long Island Herald that they followed all proper protocols and procedures.

Still, Principal Henry denied their request. And here's an added insult to injury: when the students told Principal Henry about rampant anti-gay slurs, including use of the word "faggot" in the school, the Principal said it wasn't that big of a deal.

"Principal Henry told the students that she too called people 'faggots' when she was young and didn’t mean anything bad by it," says a press release from LIGALY, the Long Island Gay and Lesbian Youth organization.

Right, because "Faggot" is such a positive, uplifting term of endearment.

Urge Valley Stream South High School to enact a gay-straight alliance for students, and tell Principal Henry that her suggestion that "faggots" is a benign term is grossly inappropriate for an educator charged with keeping all of her students, gay and straight alike, safe and free of harassment.