Posted: Tue Nov 16, 2010 3:42 pm
Article and video.
A nice speech that has probably touched many, many folks, particularly those who have been a victim of hatred towards gays. I feel for those folks. I've got gay family members and friends, and believe they should have all the rights anyone else does.
However, this kid is wrong and so was the teacher. In fact, the kid's defense of the teacher is completely pointless because the teacher didn't get suspended for defending gays. He was suspended for telling a girl to remove an article of clothing he found offensive.
This isn't about hate speech against gays, it's about free speech period.
The teacher started this whole controversy by displaying his own prejudices about the confederate flag. (I should point out that being a Yankee, I'm not a fan, but smart enough to know that it doesn't mean the same thing to all people.)
Nothing is known about the girl who wore the belt buckle except that one could assume she has poor fashion taste. Beyond that, to assign her a belief system based on an article of clothing is wrong. Didn't the swastika actually stand for something decent before the Nazis used it? The confederate flag only stands for hatred to those who, through their own hatred and prejudice have assigned it that meaning.
The other student, who spoke up in her defense, was very wrong to make anti-gay statements, but his argument about free speech was dead on. He was correct in telling the teacher that he had no right to tell the girl to remove the flag.
And again, that's what the teacher got suspended for, not defending gays. Thus, nice story, but it doesn't fir the facts.
A nice speech that has probably touched many, many folks, particularly those who have been a victim of hatred towards gays. I feel for those folks. I've got gay family members and friends, and believe they should have all the rights anyone else does.
However, this kid is wrong and so was the teacher. In fact, the kid's defense of the teacher is completely pointless because the teacher didn't get suspended for defending gays. He was suspended for telling a girl to remove an article of clothing he found offensive.
McDowell was suspended for one day without pay after the student in question complained about the removal of her belt buckle.
This isn't about hate speech against gays, it's about free speech period.
The teacher started this whole controversy by displaying his own prejudices about the confederate flag. (I should point out that being a Yankee, I'm not a fan, but smart enough to know that it doesn't mean the same thing to all people.)
Nothing is known about the girl who wore the belt buckle except that one could assume she has poor fashion taste. Beyond that, to assign her a belief system based on an article of clothing is wrong. Didn't the swastika actually stand for something decent before the Nazis used it? The confederate flag only stands for hatred to those who, through their own hatred and prejudice have assigned it that meaning.
The other student, who spoke up in her defense, was very wrong to make anti-gay statements, but his argument about free speech was dead on. He was correct in telling the teacher that he had no right to tell the girl to remove the flag.
And again, that's what the teacher got suspended for, not defending gays. Thus, nice story, but it doesn't fir the facts.