Florida town supports principal's anti gay "witch hunt&

[Lord of the Abyss]

Ignorance and bigotry in Florida ?! Shocking, I know.

PONCE DE LEON, Fla. - When a high school senior told her principal that students were taunting her for being a lesbian, he told her homosexuality is wrong, outed her to her parents and ordered her to stay away from children.

He suspended some of her friends who expressed their outrage by wearing gay pride T-shirts and buttons at Ponce de Leon High School, according to court records. And he asked dozens of students whether they were gay or associated with gay students.

The American Civil Liberties Union successfully sued the district on behalf of a girl who protested against Principal David Davis, and a federal judge reprimanded Davis for conducting a "witch hunt" against gays. Davis was demoted, and school employees must now go through sensitivity training.

And despite all that, many in this conservative Panhandle community still wonder what, exactly, Davis did wrong.

"We are a small, rural district in the Bible Belt with strong Christian beliefs and feel like homosexuality is wrong," said Steve Griffin, Holmes County's school superintendent, who keeps a Bible on his desk and framed Scriptures on his office walls.

Holmes County, on the Georgia line, has about 20,000 residents. There is some agriculture, but most people are employed either by prisons or schools; some commute to the Gulf Coast to work in tourism. Ponce de Leon, with fewer than 500 residents, has a cafe, a post office and an antique store.

Many in the community support Davis and feel outsiders are forcing their beliefs on them. Griffin, who kicked Davis out of the principal's office but allowed him to continue teaching at the school, said high schoolers here aren't exposed to the same things as kids in Atlanta or Chicago.

"I don't think we are that different from a lot of districts, at least in the Panhandle, that have beliefs that maybe are different from societal changes," Griffin said.

Gay rights activists said that's no excuse for what Davis did.

The problems began last fall when Davis, who did not return phone messages from The Associated Press, admonished the senior, who is identified only as "Jane Doe" in court records and whose friends say she doesn't want to talk about the experience.

The friends donned gay pride T-shirts and rainbow-colored clothing when they found out how Davis had treated her, and he questioned many of them about their sexuality and association with gay students. Some were suspended.

"Davis embarked on what can only be characterized as a 'witch hunt' to identify students who were homosexual and their supporters, further adding fuel to the fire," U.S. District Judge Richard Smoak recounted in his ruling. "He went so far as to lift the shirts of female students to insure the letters 'GP' or the words 'Gay Pride' were not written on their bodies."

Heather Gillman, an 11th-grader who took part in the protests, complained to her mother, Ardena, a 40-year-old corrections officer and mother of three. Ardena Gillman called the ACLU, even though she knew people would be angry.

"I just felt like I had to stand up for the kids. Heather wanted to do this, and I had to back her," she said.

Ardena hoped to protect the students' freedom of speech — whether it was the freedom to wear Confederate flag T-shirts to show Southern pride or the freedom to wear rainbow T-shirts to support gay rights.

Courts have repeatedly ruled that similar student protests are constitutional as long as they are not disruptive.

"I think a shirt that says 'I support gays' is very different from a shirt that says 'Gays are going to hell,'" said Benjamin Stevenson, an ACLU attorney. "One can be very disruptive for a child's self-esteem; the other supports other people and their ideas."

Ardena Gillman also knew some of the students would need to learn to be tolerant.

"What happens when these kids get out in the real world after they leave Ponce de Leon and they have a black, homosexual supervisor at their job?" she said.

The ACLU sued in January, and Smoak ruled this summer that Davis violated Heather Gillman's rights.

"I emphasize that Davis's personal and religious views about homosexuality are not issues in this case. Indeed, Davis's opinions and views are consistent with the beliefs of many in Holmes County, in Florida, and in the country," Smoak wrote in an opinion released last month. "Where Davis went wrong was when he endeavored to silence the opinions of his dissenters."

As Ardena Gillman suspected, the lawsuit created hard feelings in town.

A Wal-Mart worker yelled at her, accusing her of trying to "bankrupt" the school district, which was ordered to pay $325,000 in ACLU attorney fees. One of her friends has refused to talk to her because the lawsuit conflicted with the woman's religious beliefs.

Others flatly hail Davis as a hero.

"David Davis is a fine man and good principal, and we are a gentle, peaceful, Christian, family-oriented community," said Bill Griffin, 73 and a lifelong Ponce de Leon resident who is no relation to the district superintendent. "We aren't out to tar and feather anyone."

The lawsuit could reflect a division between the high school students who have grown up in an era of gay tolerance and the community's elders, said Gary Scott, a school board member.

"But I think that's less of an issue here than in Miami or Minnesota," he said.

The judge's scathing rebuke left Scott questioning how his community's beliefs could be so different from the judge's opinion.

"I guess I didn't realize we were this bad," Scott said.

Yet another reason I'm never, ever moving to Florida.

[Admiral Valdemar]

They should move to Saudi. I hear they'd get on like an oil field on fire.

[Invictus ChiKen]

Okay three things first where is that Florida gif?

Second where is Tommy Vercitti when we need him?

Third if Davis was making underage girls left there shirts why the FUCK is he not behind bars!?

[General Zod]

Third if Davis was making underage girls left there shirts why the FUCK is he not behind bars!?

Because it's Florida. Duh.

[CaptHawkeye]

So just what is taking Global Warming so long to send that state beneath the waves?

[Darksider]

*Sigh*

does anyone have that gif of bugs bunny sawing florida off the U.S.?

[The Dark]

Welcome to the Panhandle. Unless you're in one of the few cities (Tampa, Orlando, Miami), that's about par for the course. I've never been to Ponce de Leon, but any time you see "on the Georgia line," it's a bad sign.

[KlavoHunter]

[Erik von Nein]

You know, that .gif may as well be standard for any article involving Florida.

"He went so far as to lift the shirts of female students to insure the letters 'GP' or the words 'Gay Pride' were not written on their bodies."

What? How is this even legal?

"David Davis is a fine man and good principal, and we are a gentle, peaceful, Christian, family-oriented community," said Bill Griffin, 73 and a lifelong Ponce de Leon resident who is no relation to the district superintendent. "We aren't out to tar and feather anyone."

Yeah, I mean, what's more gentle then responding to bullying by bullying the person being bullied? Then attempting to sqaush any dissenters?

What a punishment, though. He only gets to teach there still? Man, that's got to be rough.

What a fucking bunch of douchnozzels.

[Pulp Hero]

God I hate how the South has the education and culture of a third world country and the same access to guns and Twinkies as the rest of us.

[Steve]

Holmes County's on the Alabama border according to a map I've seen. That makes it even worse.

Now people see why I say that Florida - or more specifically, the Central and arts of the Southern areas of the state - is a bastion of civilization in the South. A foothold that the civilized Republic must defend from the barbaric Southrons to the north!

[Adrian Laguna]

Holmes County, on the Georgia line, has about 20,000 residents. There is some agriculture, but most people are employed either by prisons or schools; some commute to the Gulf Coast to work in tourism. Ponce de Leon, with fewer than 500 residents, has a cafe, a post office and an antique store.

That about explains everything right there, it's a very small rural area in the Deep South.

To anyone whining about Florida, the entire state is not the same. South Florida is actually very progressive and several counties in the area have anti-discrimination laws that protect on the basis of sexual orientation, and at least a couple also on the basis of gender identification.

[Ender]

Okay three things first where is that Florida gif?

Second where is Tommy Vercitti when we need him?

Third if Davis was making underage girls left there shirts why the FUCK is he not behind bars!?

Because women are nothing but chattel.

[CaptJodan]

I'm glad to see the Florida gif for this one. And the previous one. Too bad Fay didn't aim for them and, you know, strengthen considerably.

[Steve]

I'm glad to see the Florida gif for this one. And the previous one. Too bad Fay didn't aim for them and, you know, strengthen considerably.

You mean too bad Fay didn't swing further west, strengthen in the Gulf, and then hit the Panhandle, right? Instead it dumped rain on the civilized portions of the state.

[Edi]

I'm glad to see the Florida gif for this one. And the previous one. Too bad Fay didn't aim for them and, you know, strengthen considerably.

There's showing proper contempt and then there's just being an asshole and this is the latter.

[sketerpot]

This is actually very simple, as you might expect from a bunch of damn simpletons. It's a small, insular community with a lot of bigotry. When someone gets corrupted with a bunch of liberal outside ideas, the community freaks out. They see it as "us versus the outside agitators" and conspire to be as backward as they can get away with. It's just like the civil rights movement in the 60's, but with a lot less rioting and lynching.

I saw this in the town of about 2000 people where I went to high school, when they did a graduation prayer. The school actually hired lawyers to find loopholes in the First Amendment rulings saying that public-school-sponsored prayers are illegal. They ended up with some dodgy wink-wink-nudge-nudge deal where a student came up to the microphone and "just happened" to say a conservative Christian prayer. I don't even want to think about what would have happened if anybody had objected to it. Probably that person would be shunned, along with any family members who didn't participate in the shunning. It's nasty business.

[darthdavid]

It's times like this, reading things like this article, that I remember: I may hate the shit out of my town but the sort of gun-toting, bible-humping bigoted rednecks you get in Ovid are practically godless commies by the standards of much of the South and that there are much worse places to live.

[The Dark]

I'm glad to see the Florida gif for this one. And the previous one. Too bad Fay didn't aim for them and, you know, strengthen considerably.

You mean too bad Fay didn't swing further west, strengthen in the Gulf, and then hit the Panhandle, right? Instead it dumped rain on the civilized portions of the state.

Don't know about you, but I got about four months' worth of rain yesterday. About 18 inches or so.

To anyone whining about Florida, the entire state is not the same. South Florida is actually very progressive and several counties in the area have anti-discrimination laws that protect on the basis of sexual orientation, and at least a couple also on the basis of gender identification.

The counties with those anti-discrimination laws are Broward, Leon, Miami-Dade, Monroe, Orange, and Palm Beach. Gender identity protection is in Broward, Monroe, Orange, and Palm Beach counties. There are currently bills before the House and Senate to extend the protections across the entire state, which would make Florida the 21st state to have a state-wide sexual orientation protection, and the 14th to protect based on gender identity.

[Flagg]

I'm glad to see the Florida gif for this one. And the previous one. Too bad Fay didn't aim for them and, you know, strengthen considerably.

There's showing proper contempt and then there's just being an asshole and this is the latter.

Yeah, kinda hit the wrong part, anyway. Though I've been through a few major Hurricanes and I would wish them on my greatest enemies.

The farther away from the head of the penis (south Florida) you get, the closer to the asshole (the rest of the south south) you are.

[Duckie]

At very minimum at least the newest generation doesn't seem to be entirely full of assholes.

[The Dark]

At very minimum at least the newest generation doesn't seem to be entirely full of assholes.

I don't know - I get called asshole rather often

[Molyneux]

God I hate how the South has the education and culture of a third world country and the same access to guns and Twinkies as the rest of us.

Er...isn't the one on the left in that picture wearing a fairly geeky shirt? A bit dissonant.

[Kanastrous]

He got it out of the 'too small' bin at the Salvation Army, and either doesn't know what it means, or can't read it, anyway.

That's my guess.

[Patrick Degan]

The southern tip of Florida, like New Orleans, isn't really Deep South but rather North Carribean.