A few days ago, I wrote about how a high school in Kentucky had its mascot changed from "Stallions" to "TBD" after a mere 200 people signed a petition claiming that "Stallions" was an offensive, sexist name to represent the school. Now, more than ten times that number have signed an rebuttal petition asking the district to keep "Stallions" as the mascot for Frederick Douglass High School in Lexington.
The petition, authored by Drew Rodriguez and Bilal Chhadh, two future Frederick Douglass High School Students, states that because the school is being built on the site of the former Hamburg Place Farm (where racehorses were bred and a stallion is buried), "Stallions" is an appropriate name for the mascot. The petition also points out that other schools in the area have gendered mascots without controversy or complaint. Rodriguez and Chhadh argue that honoring the history of Lexington and the history of the grounds of the school is neither inappropriate nor sexist, and that society as a whole has become "too sensitive."
Part of the petition:
[...] Superintendent Caulk revealed that the decision to establish Stallions as the mascot was after they discovered that, "...one of the Madden's famed Stallions had been buried on the property where the new school was built." There are many schools in Lexington that have names and mascots that are or were male. Lafayette High School was named after Marquis de Lafayette, a male French general. Their mascot, the generals, was not created to disrespect, decry or discredit women, but more to honor one of America's great generals. Fayette County itself is named after him.
We as Lexingtonians should take pride in our history and strive to commemorate it, not argue over trivial matters such as the gender of a mascot. We feel our society has become too sensitive to such matters as simple as a school mascot. The point of the Stallions was not to denounce women, but to honor the rich history of the land the school is being built upon. In addition, the Keeneland green color was incorporated into the school to promote Lexington's profound equestrian history.
It's a weird world when two high school freshmen (or should I say "first years"?) have more common sense than fully-grown adults. A school doesn't choose a mascot to marginalize or offend part of the student body, and to suggest it does is ludicrous. There's nothing wrong with "Stallions" as a mascot, especially for a school in Kentucky that's literally being built on a farm where stallions were raised. Everybody who is upset over this needs to take a massive chill pill.
Given that the district was so willing to submit to the demands of a mere 200 people, I wonder what they'll have to say about 2,000 people telling them that they're out of their minds.
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