This incident follows a spate of anti-gay activity in Tennessee. The “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which would ban elementary and middle schools from talking about sexual orientation, passed the state Senate last year and was approved by the House education subcommittee a few weeks ago. Last year, in his campaign to stop the formation of a gay-straight alliance at her school, one high school principal allegedly threw a straight student against a wall for wearing a T-shirt in support of the idea. State lawmakers also recently proposed a bill that would protect students who bully their gay peers, if they do so for religious reasons.
There have been two recent gay teen suicides in Tennessee that have gained public attention. In January, Phillip Parker, a gay 14-year-old, killed himself and left a handwritten note in his trash can, “Please help me mom,” after reportedly enduring mental and physical torment from peers. In December, a gay high school senior, Jacob Rogers, dropped out of school after what his friends describe as four years of bullying, and took his own life.
After Bond’s assembly, students complained to the American Civil Liberties Union, which sent a letter to Haywood County Schools Superintendent Marlon King, asking the school system to express views friendly to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, and to let students know they have a constitutional right to identify as gay. The Human Rights Campaign, the country’s largest LGBT civil rights organization, launched a petition against Bond’s remarks, which garnered 5,000 signatures in four hours.
Bond resigned later that day….
I sincerely hope that everyone following me has an ACLU membership card in your wallet.
About
Free thinking, science, liberal politics, equal rights, freedom from religion, opinions, and random awesomeness.
