Schools saying little on gay student
ACLU pressing for more on harassment complaint.
By Jennifer Barnett
March 28, 2003
The ACLU probably won't file a lawsuit against the Pulaski County School District this week, but that doesn't mean the civil liberties organization is letting the district off the hook for its treatment of gay student Thomas McLaughlin.
Lawyers for both sides are still talking, and the ACLU hasn't ruled out legal action, said Chris Hampton, a spokeswoman for the group.
Superintendent Don Henderson sent a guarded letter to the ACLU on March 21 denying that Thomas, a ninth-grader at Jacksonville Junior High School, had been punished specifically because of his sexual orientation. But he did not specifically deny a series of allegations about punishment of Thomas that followed discussions with his teachers on the subject of his sexual orientation. He also refused the ACLU's demand that the school clear Thomas' transcript of any disciplinary actions that stemmed from the fact that Thomas is gay:
"It is my determination that the student's conduct violated provisions in the district's student handbook which prohibit a student from engaging in conduct which is disruptive to the instructional environment," Henderson wrote. This leaves open the question whether the conduct that was deemed disruptive was his open talk in school about his sexuality.
Thomas and his family have said that several teachers and administrators at the school have punished him for, or discouraged him from, talking about his sexual orientation for the last 18 months, since the afternoon in October 2001 that a school counselor called Thomas' mother and told her Thomas was having feelings about other males.
Both Henderson and the school district's attorney, Jay Bequette, refused to comment beyond what was in the letter.
But Hampton said Henderson's letter isn't good enough.
"They don't address the issue that we were talking about - he should have the right to be openly gay at school," she said.
"I can't flat out say we're going to sue, but how we would go about that is something we're looking at," she said.
Meanwhile, Thomas' story has drawn national attention in both the gay and mainstream media. The New York Times ran an article Tuesday, and the Arkansas Times received several emails from around the country about an article here last week.
"It seems like this has really struck a nerve with people just because of the sheer number of Constitutional violations," Hampton said.
The school district's investigation, which concluded teachers had not intentionally done wrong, didn't include talking to Thomas or his parents - because, according to the letter, the ACLU required school officials to meet "unreasonable conditions" in order to do so. (The investigation recalls the district's recent investigation of an alleged gang rape at Jacksonville High School, still under review by police. School officials decided in that case, without talking to the alleged victim, that the sex acts were consensual.)
Hampton said the only condition on the district interview with the McLaughlin family was that school officials had to agree that the interview would be used for the school district's investigation only, and could not be used later in court.
In the letter, Henderson would not even flatly concede that educators did, as Thomas has said, quote scripture to him and make him read passages from the Bible condemning homosexuality. However, he hinted that the episodes had occurred.
"In regard to the allegation that school personnel advocated religious beliefs, such action was not appropriate and is not condoned by the district," Henderson wrote.
The letter did not say what, if any, punishment the teachers and administrators might receive.
"I couldn't discuss that with you anyway, because it becomes a personnel matter," Henderson said in a brief telephone interview. The district is on spring break this week.
Sure, lets punish him for talking about his sexual orientation, while you let other students talk about sex...
If this were a private school, I might understand. My Catholic high school did the same to me, though less officially.
If the superintendent of schools had come out and said that this was a heinous offense that the teachers had committed, and that punishment was being sought for them, then I could understand.
If any of the school officials had been quoted as saying, "The Pulaski County School District was founded to support, nurture and educate children, not their sexual preferences," then I could understand.
But such is not the case. This is indeed a heinous and grave offense. It violates more civil liberties than I care to list here.
More proof that bigotry does still run rampant in the US. ::Sighs:: Shameful...
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"I hear and behold God in every object, yet I understand God not in the least, / Nor do I understand who there can be more wonderful than myself."
--Whitman
neoolong wrote:Letting their personal and religious beliefs interfere with the running of the school. They should get punished.
Homosexualility is NOT a belief.
I'm interested to know EXACTLY how this interfered with the runing of the school. Perhaps some closet case born-again got a hard-on at the thought of a queer so close to him that he lodged a complaint. But seeing as how the administration and their lawyers are keeping as tight lipped about this as possible, we won't know until it goes to court, if it goes to court.
Frank Hipper wrote:Homosexualility is NOT a belief.
No no, he meant that the TEACHER'S beliefs were getting in the way, and they should be fired. Homophobia IS a belief.
I'm interested to know EXACTLY how this interfered with the runing of the school. Perhaps some closet case born-again got a hard-on at the thought of a queer so close to him that he lodged a complaint. But seeing as how the administration and their lawyers are keeping as tight lipped about this as possible, we won't know until it goes to court, if it goes to court.
Well, I can tell you that's how it happened with me. That and in bio-ethics when we were talking about gay parents, I voiced my opinion against the general classroom consensus that gay people should not be allowed to have children. They didn't like me for that, I suppose, and I got 5 hours detention for doing so. The offense?
Disrupting the general moral atmosphere.
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"I hear and behold God in every object, yet I understand God not in the least, / Nor do I understand who there can be more wonderful than myself."
--Whitman
Frank Hipper wrote:You stated that you went to Catholic School though, right? Not that there's an excuse there, just an explanation.
Unfortunately, you're right. But...
The word Catholic literally means "all-inclusive." Catholicism was founded on a "give me your tired, your poor..." kind of premise. It used to offer salvation to all those who repented. And for four years I repented. Where was my salvation? It came in the form of constant ostracization and having the teachers look down their noses at me.
And thus, I am no longer Christian.
Edit: Fix quote.
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"I hear and behold God in every object, yet I understand God not in the least, / Nor do I understand who there can be more wonderful than myself."
--Whitman
neoolong wrote:Letting their personal and religious beliefs interfere with the running of the school. They should get punished.
Homosexualility is NOT a belief.
I'm interested to know EXACTLY how this interfered with the runing of the school. Perhaps some closet case born-again got a hard-on at the thought of a queer so close to him that he lodged a complaint. But seeing as how the administration and their lawyers are keeping as tight lipped about this as possible, we won't know until it goes to court, if it goes to court.
Darth Wong wrote:This shit doesn't surprise me at all. You live in a country where the money tells you to trust God, for fuck's sake.
But at least we don't pledge our country under God anymore.
Hmm... maybe I should start a lobby for removing "In God we Trust" from the currency... after all, it was added in 1956 to help make us seperate from the 'godless Communists'.
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Queeb Salaron wrote:If this were a private school, I might understand. My Catholic high school did the same to me, though less officially.
snip...
What?!?! you went to a private school and they messed with you on the basis of your sexuality, and thats legal?
Via money Europe could become political in five years" "... the current communities should be completed by a Finance Common Market which would lead us to European economic unity. Only then would ... the mutual commitments make it fairly easy to produce the political union which is the goal"
On the one hand, I can maybe agree that if he was flouncing around shoving his sexuality in everyone's face, that might be disruptive. I have never understood why some people feel the need to talk about their sexuality all the time. But when the teachers start reading the Bible, they have clearly gone over the line. If that allegation is true, then I don't see why the ACLU won't sue. The teachers need to be removed and the administration punished. It's a shame these things continue to happen, while other schools are so afraid that they will not even read Job or Psalms in World Literature classes.
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If that superintendant feels that Homophobia is acceptable then he should, quite frankly, go to hell. Or at least take a good look at his beliefs and what they are based on.
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Stuart Mackey wrote:What?!?! you went to a private school and they messed with you on the basis of your sexuality, and thats legal?
Their philosophy is this: "If you don't like it, you can leave. No one's making you stay here." And trust me, that would be $24k I would be MORE than glad to get back. But I stuck it out. You have to stick it out in situations like this. You have to take the beating they give you, and when they think you've had enough, stand back up with a smile on your face and spit on them. That's the only way things start to change.
Proud owner of The Fleshlight
G.A.L.E. Force - Bisexual Airborn Division
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"I hear and behold God in every object, yet I understand God not in the least, / Nor do I understand who there can be more wonderful than myself."
--Whitman
Stuart Mackey wrote:What?!?! you went to a private school and they messed with you on the basis of your sexuality, and thats legal?
Their philosophy is this: "If you don't like it, you can leave. No one's making you stay here." And trust me, that would be $24k I would be MORE than glad to get back. But I stuck it out. You have to stick it out in situations like this. You have to take the beating they give you, and when they think you've had enough, stand back up with a smile on your face and spit on them. That's the only way things start to change.
I guess I am lucky, I live in a country where it is illegal to discriminate on the grounds of sexual oreintation{thats not to say it does not happen}. Private schools be damnned, no one has the right to treat you like that.
Via money Europe could become political in five years" "... the current communities should be completed by a Finance Common Market which would lead us to European economic unity. Only then would ... the mutual commitments make it fairly easy to produce the political union which is the goal"
Sorry, articles like that induce IQ dampening emotions.
If that superintendant feels that Homophobia is acceptable then he should, quite frankly, go to hell. Or at least take a good look at his beliefs and what they are based on.
At least the ACLU is there to put a stop to this. They aren't totally useless, you know.