Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Child disciplined for saying his mother is gay?

seretogis · 12-13-2003, 12:41 PM

Not exactly, though that is what the ACLU would like you to think. (They're actually involved in this one, so don't jump my bones!)

Linky Linky

Quote:

Reaction to School Board’s decision mixed
Sebreana Domingue
sdomingue@theadvertiser.com

December 13, 2003

LAFAYETTE — Sentiment ranged on both sides of the issue Thursday night as residents debated who was right and who was wrong in the disciplining of a 7-year-old Ernest Gallet Elementary student.

The boy’s mother says the child was disciplined by school officials for using the word gay. School officials say it was for disruptive behavior.

Conversation in the Lafayette Parish School Board meeting room was passionate and heated at times.

Teachers from Ernest Gallet Elementary wore shirts in support of teacher Terry L. Bethea, who sent the discipline form home to Sharon Huff outlining that her second-grader told another student [that his mother] was gay and explained what it meant.

The teachers, who did not want to give their names, said they had children and did not like the idea of second-graders discussing sexual orientation. Many said the teacher was wrongly singled out.

People on both sides of the issue showed up for the special meeting held by the School Board on Thursday. The board issued a statement denying any wrongdoing in the case and reiterating that Huff’s son was disciplined for being disruptive in class.

The Rev. Felix Sellers of the Duson Baptist Church said the ACLU is exploiting the family.

“The ACLU is using this to propagate their cause,” he said. “The child is being used and the two women are being used.”

Others disagreed.

“They are trying to blame it on the parents,” said Mike Elmore, of the UL Pride Society, a gay and lesbian group. “They are avoiding the apology.”

By not giving an apology, the school system is dragging the matter out longer, Elmore said.

Danny Hammers, president of the UL Lafayette College Democrats chapter, said his group plans to contact U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu to talk to the School Board and apologize.

“We want to mobilize and contact Sen. Mary Landrieu and ask her to step in because it is appropriate and it has become a federal case.”

Parent Deborah Young said she believes homosexuality should not be discussed in school.

“Christianity means to show love and compassion,” Young said, “by protecting kids from danger ... and the harmful effects of homosexuality. It is a dangerous way to live.

“We want to protect our children period,” she said.

Parent Carrie Baird said her child attends a public school in Lafayette Parish and she attended the special meeting to see how the school system would apologize.

Baird carried a copy of Huff’s son’s discipline form and behavior contract which has been the focus of the debate on why the second-grader was disciplined.

“Regardless of, if that was not what he is written up for, this is what they wrote,” Baird said. “If he was being disruptive it should have been on the form.”

If the discussion were sexually suggestive, Baird said she could understand the need for a teacher to intervene in front of other students.

“I would like to ! see an apology for what was written here,” she said. “I would like an apology to be given to the child. He was made to feel inferior and that is not right.”

The matter should have been handled better because of the age of the student, Baird said.

“That child is 7 years old,” she said. “Children speak their mind.”

The teachers seem in the right to me on this. I can't imagine any sort of situation in a second grade classroom where it would be appropriate to discuss the sexual orientation of parents. I really don't see why the ACLU is getting involved in this. Is it a civil liberty to have a child discuss sexuality with another child in a second grade classroom?