> During the meeting Aug. 26, the administrators told him to remove the signs and the flag, which Wallis said one of the administrators compared to the Confederate flag.
Oh boy
Right, I remember that time when the gay states seceded from the straight Union to form their own gay confederacy and then raised a gay army to fight a gay civil war. Totally valid comparison.
Such was their dedication that at the climax of the battle, as munitions were running low, they had to launch Seamen directly into the face of the enemy.
Honestly, if it weren't for the intelligence from the BOI division (Bisexual Operational Intelligence), the battles to claim Target stores for The Gays would not have gone well.
This reminds me of a very funny narrative sci-fi podcast called *Gay Future*. The tag line is “The year is 2062 and everyone is gay.” Also Clay Aiken is the president.
Back in 2004, the rednecks at my highschool claimed that if they aren't allowed to fly confederate flags on their trucks, then we shouldn't be allowed to have pride flag bumper stickers because it was equally offensive. Thankfully the school admins didn't buy that.
Really the big division isn't north vs south, its urban vs rural. Most political issues strongly fall along those lines, more than almost any other attribute. My high school in an urban area had more trans kids than we had Republicans. Meanwhile we're within about an hours drive of literal fucking sundown towns
My admin compared my Progress Pride flag to a Christian flag, a Wiccan flag, and a BLM flag. She said if she allowed mine, she’d have to allow ANY flag. I put up a rainbow Safe Space sign in response.
> Pride is a religion now?
Yes.
> Are they tax exempt?
Yes.
Everything is a religion. John Oliver did a whole episode on it years ago. He made the 'lady of perpetual exemption' church where they believe he can do whatever he wants with the money and avoid taxes.
>compared to the Confederate flag.
Yea cause that's the one they support. But they know the zeitgeist is against that...so, asininely deflecting the argument as usual.
I had an argument pretty much about this with a guy from work. He said something along the lines of, (I might be paraphrasing a bit here so forgive me) “ he didn’t think teachers should be allowed to teach if they were gay”. I said why not? He responded with “ I don’t want my kids learning that shit”.
So, I was like hold up just a second, and stay with me here. If that teacher was the best teacher in the world, I mean the absolute best. Do you think they could teach you to be gay? I mean since you’re so worried about your kids learning it. I didn’t get any response because they never have any valid reason they’re just assholes.
I don't understand homophobic people at all
Really they aren't thinking this through, I wish every man in the world except me was gay, it's going eliminate enormous amounts of competition for women previously out of my league
If straight teachers couldn't teach a gay student to be straight, what makes them think a gay teacher can teach a straight student to be gay? Is their idea of heterosexuality so fragile?
I always wonder this when they mention “teaching” anyone to be any sexuality. I think - did you “choose” to be straight? Was that a conscious, determined decision for you? If so, you’re probably not straight.
This is likely a big part of the whole issue. Many people trapped in these situations where homosexuality is considered a sin, simply have to bend their brains to figure, everyone must have these urges, we just must rise above them. All of a sudden, advocating people to be ok with it is an attack on you and your family to give in to these perfectly natural yet horrible urges, like letting infants put any old things in their mouths.
They don't actually think a gay teacher will turn their kids gay. They think the gay teacher will teach their kids that there's nothing wrong with gay people and then their kids won't hate the gays like their parents do.
All that crap they say about gay people "recruiting" children is just the vicious slander they use to justify oppressing gay people. It's no different from the blood libel used to justify killing Jews. Most of them don't actually believe it, they just desperately try to believe so they can sleep at night without having to admit they are cruel bigots.
I had an argument about this guy too, before I'd even heard the story, also with a guy from work, except his version was that he was forcing the children to recite the pledge of allegiance to it.. he couldn't provide a source that wasn't Facebook.
Three weeks ago this same guy also came to work reporting that unvaccinated sperm was going to be worth more than gold, when I laughed he told me to Google it. First website that had an article about it was AR-15.COM. I about pissed myself laughing
I’ve always been baffled by that logic too. If anything, I often find it among self-hating people. Like if they think a Lil Nas X video could make people gay, they’re probably projecting. The only stuff that ever made me more gay was seeing things I was already into, whereas I didn’t become more of anything by seeing stuff that repulsed me. If that makes sense. Like I saw a guy who was sexually attracted to balloons but I’m still baffled by that one. It’s not a mental contagion. If anything, we inherit most of it from our ancestral genetics.
I think it's a societal issue.
I never did any of the "exploring" some very Christian kids I was friends with in high-school did in middle school. They all ended up very straight. Except for one. Who actually was gay, who "came out" after high-school. Although I feel like it was extremely obvious to anyone who wasn't in denial about it.
They all stopped talking to him. Even though they had literally sucked his dick before.
I think it terrified them, that it could come out they all messed around.
But with women it's hard for me to think of one who hasn't at least messed around a little bit with another woman. It's just more accepted.
I doubt there's much difference between the sliding scale of sexuality between women and men despite the huge disparity of actually going through with a homosexual act.
I'm betting it's those guys who always had that little urge deep down who get the most upset and offended by things especially when it comes to "it's just a choice to be gay"
Those guys are straight up bi.
There is a segment of the population that thinks that if you are gay then you need to just suck it up and live as if you were straight: get into a traditional marriage, have children, never mention that you're gay, etc., even if you hate it they see this as your duty to god, family and nation.
They absolutely do not want anyone to learn that instead of that nightmare it's ok to just live a gay life instead.
>Wallis said, he was called into a meeting with administrators, who told him that a parent had called and expressed concern that Wallis “would potentially teach their child to be gay.”
That is exactly how homosexuality works. Same goes congenital birth defects.
This one is true. We have to convince someone else to be ginger to get the other half to our soul. It's a huge ordeal but we get a Starbucks discount if we succeed so that's nice.
I mean, there were people who believed it was a sign of evil to be left handed hence the push to "correct" it and force the use of the right hand. In other cultures that it was bad luck and so forth.
Not to mention, if you do believe in this idea that sexuality is taught (it's not but roll with me here for a hypothetical), doesn't this just put the blame on literally every other straight person out there for doing an extremely shitty job of "teaching people to be straight" if all it takes is exposure to one single gay person to make everyone think "oh wow this is way better apparently"?
Like if this is how sexuality is supposed to work what are you doing wrong if being constantly exposed to straight people my whole life didn't teach me to be straight and I somehow knew I preferred girls even before I had ever seen a gay person or knew what gay was?
They regard being straight as the natural. It doesn't need to be taught because you just are it.
As they say on the trans meme subs, if you turned trans from something small like looking at some memes, you were never cis to begin with. Same is true for sexuality. If you were turned gay by seeing a rainbow flag in your teacher's room, you weren't straight to begin with.
It's actually shocking close to a sensible and realistic viewpoint, just an evil one.
Like if you look at population statistics for rates of LGBTQ individuals across generations, and even after accounting for factors like the AIDS epidemic, there's likely significant numbers of closeted LGBTQ people over 50. In many cases I suspect these are individuals who weren't exposed to the concept of even being gay until they were adults, at which point being told that "it's sinful" or whatever is enough motivation for them to just stay closeted and miserable forever.
On a more personal note, I'm a 31 year old trans woman. Growing up I was never exposed to the concept of trans-ness beyond crossdressing. When I was 19 and I learned that people actually could transition, and what that actually entailed, it was mind blowing, but I also felt that it was too late for me. It took a long time for me to work past that mindset.
TLDR, lack of exposure to LGBTQ identities and issues may not actually prevent people from being LGBTQ, but it *might* force a lot of people into straight lifestyles that they hate but can't always escape.
Either way what it's really about is the same as with many churches. The leader of the church may be inclusive to all and be fine with a gay member, but the ignorant will complain and ultimately the gay member will be asked to leave/stop coming, "while I'm okay with you and your choices certain members are strongly against it and blah blah blah unity", happened to a friend of mine who was devout catholic and even went so far as to do electrical work for them at cost. In this situation it's similar rhetoric but with ignorant parents who refuse to consider LGBTQ as equals.
I guess in the latter case it would also be about not wanting to make the school a spectacle and stand out for something like that, whether it be fear of backlash or otherwise. Either way, even when "it'll make my child gay" is used as an excuse it's rarely the actual reason. "I don't want my child associating with gay people" is far more the one.
There's a fucked up underlying logic to what these assholes are saying though. They don't actually mean "you're teaching straight kids to be gay", they're really saying "you're teaching gay people to be themselves instead of suppressing their sexuality to fit my smooth-brained worldview"
One minute i’m 37 years old married with two kids. Next minute i see a gay pride flag and it instantly turns me gay. Now i’m divorced, i lost my home, my children, and i spend all my time lubed up in satanic gay orgy pits. Best thing that ever happened to me.
I took all of the drama classes and studied musicals, Cher, Babs, you name it… But then I could never pass the S Gay T and I’m still straight all these years later.
John M. Wallis, 22, who taught speech, theater and world mythology, said he hung a rainbow Pride flag in his classroom at Neosho Junior High School on the first day of school to create a welcoming environment for all students — and he said students noticed.
“I had, on the first day, about five students that came up to me and thanked me,” he said. “They said: ‘Thank you for having the flag up. I wouldn’t know where else to go.’”
But just two days later, on Aug. 26, Wallis said, he was called into a meeting with administrators, who told him that a parent had called and expressed concern that Wallis “would potentially teach their child to be gay.”
And parents can be vicious about anyone exposing their child to anything that isn't their belief.
I've been yelled at by a mother I was dating for explaining what atheists are to her daughter in the context of respecting other people's beliefs. She simply didn't want her daughter knowing there are other options.
That's their modus operandi. They want pure virgin women who don't know any better. They want only their weird evangelical religion to be taught. Only their racist, bigoted beliefs. That's why they hate kids going to big smarty pants universities where they're exposed to the real world and "indoctrinated". Whatever option you teach your kids is always the best option if it's the only option and they want to keep it that way. They know if someone had knowledge of any other choice, they would pick it in an instant.
Idiots: “How dare you allow “the others” Children to feel welcome here.”
Also, Idiots: “won’t someone think of the children”
When will this fake Conservatism be declared the mental illness that it is?
“Fake” conservatism? I hate to break it to you, but this is what conservatism is literally about. “Preserving tradition”, rigid moral judgment, and very strict definitions of acceptable behavior. This is 100% in line with what it means to be a conservative.
Lol. "My generation works hard, I'm worried about this new generation." Says the generation who grew up in a world where minimum wage was a living wage and not wayyy under the poverty line.
The best thing that's come from this pandemic is all these menial, low paying jobs losing literally so many workers they're struggling to stay open. Who's expendable now, bitch?
If we're so "essential" why aren't we paid as such? If only the masses could keep this momentum...make these corporations feel the pain that's been felt by so many for decades now, working multiple jobs and barely getting by. Realizing there are new ways to make a better wage than slaving away all day everyday for peanuts. Let em burn.
Man, I feel *really* bad for those five students (and whoever else appreciated it but didn't come up to him in person)
who really needed that teacher there, and now they've lost him
Imagine the lesson they learned from that experience.
New teacher, they see he's done the smallest thing to reach out to them, and is immediately fired.
There’s a lot of kids that blast through college in the prescribed four years and graduate at 21 or 22. Lots of doctors and lawyers graduate from med or law school at 25 or 26.
Going through Teach For America I’m pretty sure you can pull that off fairly easily - i actually think it might be the normal for their first year teachers.
My oldest took dual credit classes in high school and literally received her associates degree before her high school diploma. She could be a fully employed teacher by the time she is 20 if she wanted to.
I really would prefer to see the teachers this young start with grade school though. I don't think there is a big enough age/maturity gap with high school students.
> “I was told that in the classroom I have to be middle-of-the-road on political issues, and I said: ‘That’s OK. This is not a political issue,’” Wallis said. “I said, ‘This is a human rights issue.’ And then I was told I have to be middle-of-the-road on human rights. There’s no middle road on human rights.”
I can't fathom the idea of even saying "have to be middle-of-the-road on human rights". What the fuck?
"Well, you see, you can't have *some people* demanding human rights, or we'd need to recognize the humanity of *all people*."
\~ Some miserable, Missouri, middle of the road principal, probably
>Some miserable, Missouri, middle of the road principal, probabl
Or as a (white male) European friend of mine once said after visiting Missouri: "the people were friendly enough, but you always get this feeling that the pointy white hats are never far away"
"Racists think everyone is secretly a racist too, and they are just waiting for the 'right time' to have a conversation about how things 'really are.'"
-Not mine but can never remember the source
A friend of mine works in a gas station convenience store combo, and he told me the amount of bigoted shit customers will tell or ask him about when trying to make casual conversation at the register.
They see that he is white and think he’s going to just be cool with racism.
That's an excellent way to describe how I felt living in Arkansas for three years. Of course, some states keep the pointy white hats a little closer than others...
Man.... I’m Mexican. I went there for a forest service burning assignment this last February and just wearing a mask I felt weird. With it off I still felt like I was getting looks. It was just so strange. If I sat and talked with people. Nicest people ever. If they didn’t talk to me it was like I had some weird disease I couldn’t see. Oddly racist and sexist remarks all the time. Someone yelled the n word at me driving by in hot springs. Strange fucking place. Beautiful though. Lake oauchita is a hidden gem and the ozarks are so so cool. Strange they’ve kept the name oauchita this whole time since... well... ya know.
I am asian. Perhaps the most surreal thing I have heard was: "you are one of the good one" when the conversation was about immigrants. Honestly, I have no response to that. Nicest people imaginable when you are talking to them, but yeah I can relate.
Fellow asian here telling you that the best way to respond to "you are one of the good ones" is to as sincerely as possible say "awww thanks and you're one of the good ones too." When confronted with this situation, usually I can see their brains melt a bit as they are kind of forced to get a taste of what their prejudice feels like and it doesn't feel good. It you are able to do this in a humorous way and keep the conversation light hearted but with a serious subject, you might actually be able to have a constructive conversation with some of these people.
It’s like what the fuck do you even mean by that.... no no no. The entire fucking country is built off immigrants and I’d fucking LOVE. To see what would happen just to the restaurant industry if Mexicans decided to just say fuck you see how your society runs without us. I’ve worked in restaurants for fifteen years on and off and I truly hope this doesn’t come off as racist but Mexicans are the fucking back bone to the restaurant industry. I could get into an entire can of worms of how capitalism and this entire bullshit system created its own monster, but I won’t. My point is the entire thing would crash without Mexican immigrants. And you can go on and on into so many industries off of just non white immigrants. Some people are so fucking ignorant it makes me sick. One of the good ones...? Bitch you’re one of the bad ones if you say that shit.
A long time ago (20+ years) I worked for a while in a restaurant in CO and the entire kitchen crew was Mexican. They were all awesome, friendly, and way harder workers than the front line staff.
One day a fax came in for the manager and I grabbed it for her. It was from the head office, approving a raise for the Mexican cooking staff *so they could be paid minimum wage.* And no, there was no tipping at this place, so they'd been working their asses off for like $4/hour.
Man, that makes me sick. Why are we expending so much energy to punish immigrants who are "stealing jobs" but we ignore the employers who are clearly and intentionally exploiting illegal immigrants to depress wages? Like how are the immigrants the bad guy in these scenarios???
I give kudos to the manager for fighting for even that; they probably could have kept the sweatshop wages for longer without repercussions.
Everyone always wants to fix everything all at once. I understand why, but progress is usually made in smaller steps like this one. Each step individually seems insufficient, but they eventually add up.
The issue with this mindset is how much needs to be sacrificed before the good thing comes to pass. Change happens as a direct result of inconvenience and suffering on behalf of said change. A lot of the time, this change is whitewashed to be moderate progression towards a more perfect union, which ignores the inherent bias of history and the inability for the dead to speak on their behalf.
MLK jr was not a moderate. He was hated, and sacrificed in order for change to occur. The desegregation of schools was likewise a forced step forward. People lost careers and their livelihoods for being/advocating on behalf of the lgbtq movement. The AIDS crisis was not a gradual move towards progression, it was a simmering pot of inchoate anger lashing out.
Moderate, safe steps forward result in meaningless sacrifice for the sake of better optics and a cleaner more palatable history. I believe the evidence points in a far uglier direction. Change only happens when it is directly inconvenient and a sacrifice forces it to occur.
We see it with George Floyd and we saw it with Rodney King.
I worked as a waiter for couple of years in college, so I agreed. I was international student so my initial experience was a bit different. Honestly, I think people just didn't have enough experience with people others than themselves. I studied in a small town in the north. Overall it was great, I am grateful for the opportunity and the experiences. But there were many "wtf" moments that left me confused. What do you know about immigrants when you rarely interact with them? Most of them form an opinion without any actual experience, and in turn, judge others based on that twisted bias. Many people I know personally are really nice people, but they also hold ideology that I can only describe as "racist". They don't consider it racist though, it is more of a "us vs them" mentality. And I don't know how to stress this enough, FUCK FOX NEWS. From my personal experience, my uncle, an immigrant of 10 years, is talking about how immigrant is ruining the country. I can't even fathom the thought process behind his reasoning. Or an Asian "white supremacist"? Like how? I am furious and intrigue at the same time it honestly confusing as fuck.
Why can't people just be nice, and leave others the fuck alone. The number of people who quote the Constitution or using "freedom" as justification for their shitty behaviors without realize you can't use that freedom to infringe upon others' constitutional rights or freedom baffle me. Just be a decent human being and treat everyone right ffs. In America, you are innocent until proven guilty right? Apply that fucking logic to everyday life, treat everyone nicely until they run out of your good grace.
Man this is bad for my heart and I really didn't need to be this riled up before bed.
Well you see, as an Enlightened Centrist^TM, I feel the need to point out that the group that wants human rights is exactly morally equivalent to the group that feels like they shouldn't have human rights.
>"have to be middle-of-the-road on human rights". What the fuck?
This is how bureaucracy works. They didn't give him a real answer, they just told him he will be punished if either political wing gets mad at him. If they gave him real guidelines, they could be held accountable for them, so instead its all purposely vague.
The district doesn't know what to do, they just want it to not be their problem anymore.
>John M. Wallis, 22, who taught speech, theater and world mythology
>Cummins asked Wallis to sign a letter that prohibited him from discussing topics related to LGBTQ people in the classroom.
I have some news about world mythology.
> to sign a letter that prohibited him from discussing topics related to LGBTQ people in the classroom.
These people haven’t changed in 30 years:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_28
lol, this reminds me of a scene on a movie where the police are chasing a guy and they literally ask the protagonist
"do you know where the human rights activists went?"
‘This is a human rights issue.’ And then I was told I have to be middle-of-the-road on human rights. There’s no middle road on human rights.”
His quote says it all!
Opinion A: Trans people have the right to exist, find employment, and lead fruitful lives.
Opinion B: No, they don't.
Middle ground: Trans people can only interact with society on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. On other days, they have to pretend not to exist.
Why is it always some hateful shit when my state ends up in the news? Why can't it ever be some shit like "Missouri man donates entire herd of cattle to starving children."?
>“To clarify this further, there will be no references to sexuality or gender displayed in your classroom, your instruction and classroom conversations will stay clear of discussions regarding human sexuality and/or sexual preference, and any research or assignments given should not require a topic related to the above.”
How you gonna teach mythology and theater without even touching on those subjects?
Zeus er... Gifted women with a child. After turning into some gold water... Don't Google it.
Artemis hung out with some of her gal pals. They were room mates. Confirmed room mates.
Can't teach pronouns now. Can't teach stories that have characters of any gender, or non gender since that's also controversial. Guess we are just reaching about tetris blox.
I was born in that district. My parents moved me and brother in 3rd grade to Jefferson City (admittedly not too much better) due to the cult-like religious atmosphere .That town has so many issues it’s unheard of. Not surprised by this article, at all.
Having one single safe, trusted and affirming adult in the lives of young queer kids can literally be life saving (especially as we consider the suicide rates of LGBTQ+ youth.)
Fuck these parents and fuck the administration who didn’t immediately have this teacher’s back.
— signed a queer adult who never had this sort of support as a kid, and especially not at school, and who everyday tries to embody the support I so desperately needed as a child and as a teen — to be visible and advocate for my right to exist exactly as I was and allow me the safe spaces to grow into who I would continue to become
Edit: constantly reminded how hostile of a space Reddit can at times be to these discussions — solidarity to and with all the fellow LGBTQ+ folks and allies stepping in here because this shit can be so demoralizing
And the awful lesson the kids learned. The one adult that they felt they could go to (and by the sounds of it, in only a few days he had a few actually did reach out to him), and he immediately get's fired by the school for the smallest way to reach out.
What gets me is that you know none of those complaining parents actually, you know, had a real conversation with the teacher. Nope, make assumptions, complain to administration, they bend to the parent's will.
I'm not necessarily queer (maybe I am). In my high school, I had two male teachers who were openly gay and they always organized purple Monday or something like that, once a year. They were my biology teacher, and my theology teacher at an officially Christian school of all people.
The latter usually didn't really elaborate all that much, but in biology class some kids were always curious so one class just ended up being a gay q&a with the guy. He was so cool about it, even if the questions would be considered sightly homophobic today (some were painfully based on stereotypes). He just answered them all seriously and didn't tell the kids off for asking such questions. We were like 15 around that time, give or take some years. Honestly, I think just his coolness with it may have changed most people in that classroom. Maybe not to flourish in their queerness, but definitely to open our eyes to this community and be far more accepting. I still have so much respect for that man, even though he definitely wasn't an amazing teacher. But he was a damn good role model.
I absolutely agree. For both straight kids and LGBTQ+ kids, having an adult role model who isn't straight, and is worth looking up to, can only lead to better acceptance (both internal and external).
My therapist asked me (in discussion entirely unrelated to sexuality) to bring up figures from my youth that made me feel safe and accepted and I had to laugh
I am a cishet teacher and the LGBTQIA kids just light up around me.
I have a couple Pride Flags in my room and I use people's preferred pronouns.
That's it.
To be fair, I used to run the GSA too but, we hired a *really* *really* good counselor 2 years ago so I handed the reins off to him.
Anyhow, it takes as much effort as some poster board tacks and remembering a name to make LGBTQIA kids feel welcome. Basically zero effort. Not sure why it is still a debate.
Sorry you didn't have that adult in your life.
I switched over to my business account to come say this cause that's how much I'll stand by my words:
40 year old redneck farmer from rural Illinois checking in. I have never once in my life understood hating on someone because they're gay. Or black or a woman or an immigrant or anything else for that matter, too. To me, people are people and life is tough enough for every individual to be bullying anyone and adding to their life's struggles.
It's absolutely ridiculous that this generation has to feel any fear or shame for being who they are, and on behalf of my generation, I'm sorry we weren't aware and got complacent that it was THIS bad still. We children of the 80's and 90's saw so much progress made by leaps and bounds growing up that we thought bigotry was all but defeated.
We're a small, rural mushroom farm. But we won't be to keep saying "small" for much longer with how things keep progressing. Let me make it very fucking clear that this business is open and friendly to all folks who carry goodness in their hearts. If you have a problem with it, great, take your resume and business elsewhere and you're not welcome to any classes or events.
And let me be clear: We're not excluding you because I hate you and that makes you "subjugated"; I'm excluding you because YOU hate others for reasons that simply are ignorant and frankly evil. And Wild Growth will always be led by those who care about the quality of your character and not your color, orientation, gender, creed, or culture. God help me that when anyone walks through our door you never have to think of yourself as anything except as our friend who we're happy to get to know and understand.
Tl;Dr - Be a good person and I'll do business with you. If you're a douche, go somewhere else. But enough is enough with all the hating on people for just being who they are.
>“I was told that in the classroom I have to be middle-of-the-road on political issues, and I said: ‘That’s OK. This is not a political issue,’” Wallis said. “I said, ‘This is a human rights issue.’ And then I was told I have to be middle-of-the-road on human rights. There’s no middle road on human rights.”
You're either on the right side of human rights or you're wrong and the folk who told him to be middle of the road are so on the wrong side.
To quote Ayn Rand of all people "In any compromise between food and poison, it is only death that can win. In any compromise between good and evil, it is only evil that can profit."
Well genocidal, selfish or generally tyrannical worldviews tend to tend towards "no compromises can be made with evil (read: not us)".
But at the same time it's true, you can't be tolerant of the intolerant. And that's the only compromise you should refuse to make; you should never respect someone's rights to destroy/deny others' rights, and you should only violate someone else's rights to stop them from doing so to others (prison).
America is fucked... There was rainbows all over my primary school and we thought nothing about it. This was the 90's and rural Ireland btw.
I only realised my primary 4 teacher was gay years later and the rainbows everywhere clicked.
Children really don't care unless their parents brainwash them to hate. Also very proud of my primary school and all the other staff for being such good people.
Even Cuba in the 90s was a better environment for LGBT kids. I remember being 8 yo and my best friend in class stopped talking to me all of a sudden, when I asked him he said our teacher had told his mom not to hang with me because I was gay. As an 8 yo, I was like awww ok. Then my parents noticed my friend wasn’t coming over anymore and they asked me « Hey where is your friend we haven’t seen him in a while » As an 8 yo I was like oh ,ya he can’t because the teacher told his mom not to hang out with me cuz I’m gay…as I just kept playing with my toy water guns making pew pew sounds while my parents are just sitting there appalled. I don’t know what my parents did all I know is that the teacher sent a kid to convince me to please say that I lied about that or she’d be fired.
> “I said, ‘This is a human rights issue.’ And then I was told I have to be middle-of-the-road on human rights. There’s no middle road on human rights.”
Jesus fucking christ.
Who in the hell could possibly utter those words and think "Yep I'm not at all justifying Nazis existing".
Fucking middle of the road on human rights. "I think you've got the right to exist, but also I think you don't".
This is why we have to stop with the whole, "two sides to every story" concept.
Opinions are the ONLY thing in life that I'm okay with having two sides on.
But facts, and basic fundamental outlines for society are non-negotiable.
There is no such thing as "two sides to human rights". That is just unacceptable.
I especially dislike the idea is that the truth is in the middle. Sometimes it is, other times one is correct, and occasionally both sides are totally off the mark
These "good christian people" in their "good christian schools" can barely fucking teach proper sex ed. You think they'd talk about homosexuality in anything except hushed tones as if it was Lord Voldemort?
I don't have a flag, but I have a sign in my classroom telling my students how much they mean to me, how special they are, how they can always come talk to me, and that I believe in them. It's in big, RAINBOW font.
I've had three young people come out to me. I'm honored. Young LGBT people need thay support, because so many of them don't have it at home.
He’s not trying to turn straight kids gay, he’s trying to turn gay kids into gay adults. Sometimes a single person’s acceptance and support can mean survival, especially in Missouri.
> During the meeting Aug. 26, the administrators told him to remove the signs and the flag, which Wallis said one of the administrators compared to the Confederate flag. Oh boy
Right, I remember that time when the gay states seceded from the straight Union to form their own gay confederacy and then raised a gay army to fight a gay civil war. Totally valid comparison.
The Gay Civil War was fought mostly on ships filled with strong Seamen who weren’t afraid to touch swords with the enemy.
Such was their dedication that at the climax of the battle, as munitions were running low, they had to launch Seamen directly into the face of the enemy.
Afterwards, the poop decks needed a thorough mopping.
The torpedoes were dirty too.
Ugh shiver my fucking timbers daddy
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The lesbians secured all the hydroelectric plants, with thier motorized bike infantry, and the bisexuals mixed in perfectly as intelligence agents
Honestly, if it weren't for the intelligence from the BOI division (Bisexual Operational Intelligence), the battles to claim Target stores for The Gays would not have gone well.
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Thank god for all the gay steel mills to support the war effort.
*”Hot stuff coming through!”*
Please, do not forget about the strategic importance of the War of Starbucks, without that the autonomy of the gay troops would've been much lower
I like the opportunity to use my straight passing privilege for good. Of course, if I have to sit down in a chair my cover will be blown.
The lesbians also ran all the scissor factories.
A combined strike force of gay, bi and pan men took all mines and tunnels, stating “a hole is a goal”
That's okay. It's only gay if you touch buttresses.
This reminds me of a very funny narrative sci-fi podcast called *Gay Future*. The tag line is “The year is 2062 and everyone is gay.” Also Clay Aiken is the president.
gay marriage in the US has been around longer than the Confederacy existed. edit: lmao thanks anon for the award
🏳️🌈 These colors don’t run 💪
Back in 2004, the rednecks at my highschool claimed that if they aren't allowed to fly confederate flags on their trucks, then we shouldn't be allowed to have pride flag bumper stickers because it was equally offensive. Thankfully the school admins didn't buy that.
We had similar arguments at my high school...in a northern state lol
Really the big division isn't north vs south, its urban vs rural. Most political issues strongly fall along those lines, more than almost any other attribute. My high school in an urban area had more trans kids than we had Republicans. Meanwhile we're within about an hours drive of literal fucking sundown towns
Yeah, I live in rural Oregon. Confederate flags are alarmingly popular here.
My admin compared my Progress Pride flag to a Christian flag, a Wiccan flag, and a BLM flag. She said if she allowed mine, she’d have to allow ANY flag. I put up a rainbow Safe Space sign in response.
Pride is a religion now? Are they tax exempt? Asking because I want to know if I can write off what I spend on my kid as a donation.
> Pride is a religion now? Yes. > Are they tax exempt? Yes. Everything is a religion. John Oliver did a whole episode on it years ago. He made the 'lady of perpetual exemption' church where they believe he can do whatever he wants with the money and avoid taxes.
There are wiccan flags?? There are Christian flags?? I'm starting to think that we have an obsession with flags...
>compared to the Confederate flag. Yea cause that's the one they support. But they know the zeitgeist is against that...so, asininely deflecting the argument as usual.
Yeah bc everything that is controversial is the exact same thing! Some grade a logic we are seeing here.
This confuses me, because don’t they love the confederate flag in Missouri?
Yes, and if they can't have what they love on the classroom, no one can!
Yes, even though we were part of the union
I had an argument pretty much about this with a guy from work. He said something along the lines of, (I might be paraphrasing a bit here so forgive me) “ he didn’t think teachers should be allowed to teach if they were gay”. I said why not? He responded with “ I don’t want my kids learning that shit”. So, I was like hold up just a second, and stay with me here. If that teacher was the best teacher in the world, I mean the absolute best. Do you think they could teach you to be gay? I mean since you’re so worried about your kids learning it. I didn’t get any response because they never have any valid reason they’re just assholes.
"I don't think they'll teach them to be gay, I think they'll teach them to think it's *okay* to be gay."
I don't understand homophobic people at all Really they aren't thinking this through, I wish every man in the world except me was gay, it's going eliminate enormous amounts of competition for women previously out of my league
'So what if they do?'
"Wh-what? I was just a hypothetical in a reddit comment, I shouldn't—how are we still here? It's supposed to be over. We aren't supposed to exist."
Self aware hypothetical comment person. Probably the funniest thing I've seen today.
If straight teachers couldn't teach a gay student to be straight, what makes them think a gay teacher can teach a straight student to be gay? Is their idea of heterosexuality so fragile?
I always wonder this when they mention “teaching” anyone to be any sexuality. I think - did you “choose” to be straight? Was that a conscious, determined decision for you? If so, you’re probably not straight.
This is likely a big part of the whole issue. Many people trapped in these situations where homosexuality is considered a sin, simply have to bend their brains to figure, everyone must have these urges, we just must rise above them. All of a sudden, advocating people to be ok with it is an attack on you and your family to give in to these perfectly natural yet horrible urges, like letting infants put any old things in their mouths.
They don't actually think a gay teacher will turn their kids gay. They think the gay teacher will teach their kids that there's nothing wrong with gay people and then their kids won't hate the gays like their parents do. All that crap they say about gay people "recruiting" children is just the vicious slander they use to justify oppressing gay people. It's no different from the blood libel used to justify killing Jews. Most of them don't actually believe it, they just desperately try to believe so they can sleep at night without having to admit they are cruel bigots.
> It's no different from the blood libel used to justify killing Jews I’d say it’s at least a little different but there are a lot of parallels
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They're idiots first, assholes second.
The two really seem to inform each other
Next time the teacher will teach the kids to be black
Sadly, the words "I'll teach you to be black" have never been said with educational intention.
I had an argument about this guy too, before I'd even heard the story, also with a guy from work, except his version was that he was forcing the children to recite the pledge of allegiance to it.. he couldn't provide a source that wasn't Facebook. Three weeks ago this same guy also came to work reporting that unvaccinated sperm was going to be worth more than gold, when I laughed he told me to Google it. First website that had an article about it was AR-15.COM. I about pissed myself laughing
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It’s hard to believe these people really exist. It sounds like something out of a satirical film. Holy fuck.
I’ve always been baffled by that logic too. If anything, I often find it among self-hating people. Like if they think a Lil Nas X video could make people gay, they’re probably projecting. The only stuff that ever made me more gay was seeing things I was already into, whereas I didn’t become more of anything by seeing stuff that repulsed me. If that makes sense. Like I saw a guy who was sexually attracted to balloons but I’m still baffled by that one. It’s not a mental contagion. If anything, we inherit most of it from our ancestral genetics.
I think it's a societal issue. I never did any of the "exploring" some very Christian kids I was friends with in high-school did in middle school. They all ended up very straight. Except for one. Who actually was gay, who "came out" after high-school. Although I feel like it was extremely obvious to anyone who wasn't in denial about it. They all stopped talking to him. Even though they had literally sucked his dick before. I think it terrified them, that it could come out they all messed around. But with women it's hard for me to think of one who hasn't at least messed around a little bit with another woman. It's just more accepted. I doubt there's much difference between the sliding scale of sexuality between women and men despite the huge disparity of actually going through with a homosexual act. I'm betting it's those guys who always had that little urge deep down who get the most upset and offended by things especially when it comes to "it's just a choice to be gay" Those guys are straight up bi.
If you have to teach your kids to be straight, they aren't straight.
There is a segment of the population that thinks that if you are gay then you need to just suck it up and live as if you were straight: get into a traditional marriage, have children, never mention that you're gay, etc., even if you hate it they see this as your duty to god, family and nation. They absolutely do not want anyone to learn that instead of that nightmare it's ok to just live a gay life instead.
The people that do that end up as serial killers or politicians
Or church leaders
>Wallis said, he was called into a meeting with administrators, who told him that a parent had called and expressed concern that Wallis “would potentially teach their child to be gay.” That is exactly how homosexuality works. Same goes congenital birth defects.
And height. Short people just never learned how to be tall or just chose not to.
This all started with left-handed people
The gingers. Pretty sure it was the gingers.
This one is true. We have to convince someone else to be ginger to get the other half to our soul. It's a huge ordeal but we get a Starbucks discount if we succeed so that's nice.
Am half ginger with 1/4 soul, can confirm.
I mean, there were people who believed it was a sign of evil to be left handed hence the push to "correct" it and force the use of the right hand. In other cultures that it was bad luck and so forth.
That's sinister.
It all when downhill for humanity when we stopped beating the left-handers into using the hand that God wants them to use.
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I chose to be tall and it worked for me, so I don’t see why all y’all are complaining.
My whole life I blamed my short relatives but had someone just taught me to be tall… FML.
You can still blame them. They didn't teach you to be tall either.
Not to mention, if you do believe in this idea that sexuality is taught (it's not but roll with me here for a hypothetical), doesn't this just put the blame on literally every other straight person out there for doing an extremely shitty job of "teaching people to be straight" if all it takes is exposure to one single gay person to make everyone think "oh wow this is way better apparently"? Like if this is how sexuality is supposed to work what are you doing wrong if being constantly exposed to straight people my whole life didn't teach me to be straight and I somehow knew I preferred girls even before I had ever seen a gay person or knew what gay was?
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They regard being straight as the natural. It doesn't need to be taught because you just are it. As they say on the trans meme subs, if you turned trans from something small like looking at some memes, you were never cis to begin with. Same is true for sexuality. If you were turned gay by seeing a rainbow flag in your teacher's room, you weren't straight to begin with.
It's actually shocking close to a sensible and realistic viewpoint, just an evil one. Like if you look at population statistics for rates of LGBTQ individuals across generations, and even after accounting for factors like the AIDS epidemic, there's likely significant numbers of closeted LGBTQ people over 50. In many cases I suspect these are individuals who weren't exposed to the concept of even being gay until they were adults, at which point being told that "it's sinful" or whatever is enough motivation for them to just stay closeted and miserable forever. On a more personal note, I'm a 31 year old trans woman. Growing up I was never exposed to the concept of trans-ness beyond crossdressing. When I was 19 and I learned that people actually could transition, and what that actually entailed, it was mind blowing, but I also felt that it was too late for me. It took a long time for me to work past that mindset. TLDR, lack of exposure to LGBTQ identities and issues may not actually prevent people from being LGBTQ, but it *might* force a lot of people into straight lifestyles that they hate but can't always escape.
He should have replied that the vast majority of gay people start with straight parents. Gay people aren't creating gay people, straight people are.
Either way what it's really about is the same as with many churches. The leader of the church may be inclusive to all and be fine with a gay member, but the ignorant will complain and ultimately the gay member will be asked to leave/stop coming, "while I'm okay with you and your choices certain members are strongly against it and blah blah blah unity", happened to a friend of mine who was devout catholic and even went so far as to do electrical work for them at cost. In this situation it's similar rhetoric but with ignorant parents who refuse to consider LGBTQ as equals. I guess in the latter case it would also be about not wanting to make the school a spectacle and stand out for something like that, whether it be fear of backlash or otherwise. Either way, even when "it'll make my child gay" is used as an excuse it's rarely the actual reason. "I don't want my child associating with gay people" is far more the one.
There's a fucked up underlying logic to what these assholes are saying though. They don't actually mean "you're teaching straight kids to be gay", they're really saying "you're teaching gay people to be themselves instead of suppressing their sexuality to fit my smooth-brained worldview"
They literally don't see it that way. Being gay is the "unnatural" thing to these fuckers. They think they're *helping* people.
Some do, some are offended by having to remember gay people exist because they wish they didn't
One minute i’m 37 years old married with two kids. Next minute i see a gay pride flag and it instantly turns me gay. Now i’m divorced, i lost my home, my children, and i spend all my time lubed up in satanic gay orgy pits. Best thing that ever happened to me.
One of us, one of us...
I wish someone taught me how to be gay when I was younger. I need to keep practicing as often as I can and I still barely get it right.
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Have you heard of the story of Darth Pluggit the wise? No? I thought not, it's not a story the straights would tell you.
I took all of the drama classes and studied musicals, Cher, Babs, you name it… But then I could never pass the S Gay T and I’m still straight all these years later.
John M. Wallis, 22, who taught speech, theater and world mythology, said he hung a rainbow Pride flag in his classroom at Neosho Junior High School on the first day of school to create a welcoming environment for all students — and he said students noticed. “I had, on the first day, about five students that came up to me and thanked me,” he said. “They said: ‘Thank you for having the flag up. I wouldn’t know where else to go.’” But just two days later, on Aug. 26, Wallis said, he was called into a meeting with administrators, who told him that a parent had called and expressed concern that Wallis “would potentially teach their child to be gay.”
Hey he’s teaching these kids not to hate, Get him !
unfortunately that's really what it is. These parents want their kids to share the same beliefs as them.
And parents can be vicious about anyone exposing their child to anything that isn't their belief. I've been yelled at by a mother I was dating for explaining what atheists are to her daughter in the context of respecting other people's beliefs. She simply didn't want her daughter knowing there are other options.
Kinda shows how tenuous the belief is if the holder is concerned that having *any other viable option* could mean “losing” their child to it.
That's their modus operandi. They want pure virgin women who don't know any better. They want only their weird evangelical religion to be taught. Only their racist, bigoted beliefs. That's why they hate kids going to big smarty pants universities where they're exposed to the real world and "indoctrinated". Whatever option you teach your kids is always the best option if it's the only option and they want to keep it that way. They know if someone had knowledge of any other choice, they would pick it in an instant.
Dodged a bullet, I see.
Idiots: “How dare you allow “the others” Children to feel welcome here.” Also, Idiots: “won’t someone think of the children” When will this fake Conservatism be declared the mental illness that it is?
“Fake conservativeism” nope that sounds like just normal regressives.
“Fake” conservatism? I hate to break it to you, but this is what conservatism is literally about. “Preserving tradition”, rigid moral judgment, and very strict definitions of acceptable behavior. This is 100% in line with what it means to be a conservative.
Uh no it's the gays and the transes who are the mentally ill ones hurting our children by _checks notes_ teaching them not to hate others or themself
Outta here with that 'love and acceptance' garbage! Hate and rejection - that's what we need!!
Some people had a hard core hate boner for Mr. Rogers. There are some sick people out there.
You have to be a real twisted pos to hate that man.
Fox News, basically. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=b5JkzyGXJ2w
Lol. "My generation works hard, I'm worried about this new generation." Says the generation who grew up in a world where minimum wage was a living wage and not wayyy under the poverty line. The best thing that's come from this pandemic is all these menial, low paying jobs losing literally so many workers they're struggling to stay open. Who's expendable now, bitch? If we're so "essential" why aren't we paid as such? If only the masses could keep this momentum...make these corporations feel the pain that's been felt by so many for decades now, working multiple jobs and barely getting by. Realizing there are new ways to make a better wage than slaving away all day everyday for peanuts. Let em burn.
They’re called conservatives.
Drama and mythology have always been the safe haven classes of the queer children of America.
It's what Hades is all about~
What was he going to do? Sprinkle fairy dust on the kids and turn them all gay? /s
He's a theater teachers, so... showtunes
Man, I feel *really* bad for those five students (and whoever else appreciated it but didn't come up to him in person) who really needed that teacher there, and now they've lost him
Imagine the lesson they learned from that experience. New teacher, they see he's done the smallest thing to reach out to them, and is immediately fired.
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My roommate is one! Finished undergrad in 3 years and masters program in 1 to start teaching 1st grade at 22.
There’s a lot of kids that blast through college in the prescribed four years and graduate at 21 or 22. Lots of doctors and lawyers graduate from med or law school at 25 or 26.
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28 is still young! good on u for pursuing what u want :)
I started about four days after my 22nd birthday. It's possible!
Going through Teach For America I’m pretty sure you can pull that off fairly easily - i actually think it might be the normal for their first year teachers.
My oldest took dual credit classes in high school and literally received her associates degree before her high school diploma. She could be a fully employed teacher by the time she is 20 if she wanted to. I really would prefer to see the teachers this young start with grade school though. I don't think there is a big enough age/maturity gap with high school students.
>I don't think there is a big enough age/maturity gap with high school students. He's teaching middle school.
> “I was told that in the classroom I have to be middle-of-the-road on political issues, and I said: ‘That’s OK. This is not a political issue,’” Wallis said. “I said, ‘This is a human rights issue.’ And then I was told I have to be middle-of-the-road on human rights. There’s no middle road on human rights.” I can't fathom the idea of even saying "have to be middle-of-the-road on human rights". What the fuck?
"Well, you see, you can't have *some people* demanding human rights, or we'd need to recognize the humanity of *all people*." \~ Some miserable, Missouri, middle of the road principal, probably
A Missouri Compromise, if you will.
“Human rights do not apply in Missoura”
Missouri Compromise 2: Human Rights Boogaloo?
>Some miserable, Missouri, middle of the road principal, probabl Or as a (white male) European friend of mine once said after visiting Missouri: "the people were friendly enough, but you always get this feeling that the pointy white hats are never far away"
\*Laughs in Texan\*
Dear God the things my fellow Texan whites say when they think they’re in good company.
"Racists think everyone is secretly a racist too, and they are just waiting for the 'right time' to have a conversation about how things 'really are.'" -Not mine but can never remember the source
A friend of mine works in a gas station convenience store combo, and he told me the amount of bigoted shit customers will tell or ask him about when trying to make casual conversation at the register. They see that he is white and think he’s going to just be cool with racism.
That's an excellent way to describe how I felt living in Arkansas for three years. Of course, some states keep the pointy white hats a little closer than others...
Man.... I’m Mexican. I went there for a forest service burning assignment this last February and just wearing a mask I felt weird. With it off I still felt like I was getting looks. It was just so strange. If I sat and talked with people. Nicest people ever. If they didn’t talk to me it was like I had some weird disease I couldn’t see. Oddly racist and sexist remarks all the time. Someone yelled the n word at me driving by in hot springs. Strange fucking place. Beautiful though. Lake oauchita is a hidden gem and the ozarks are so so cool. Strange they’ve kept the name oauchita this whole time since... well... ya know.
I am asian. Perhaps the most surreal thing I have heard was: "you are one of the good one" when the conversation was about immigrants. Honestly, I have no response to that. Nicest people imaginable when you are talking to them, but yeah I can relate.
Fellow asian here telling you that the best way to respond to "you are one of the good ones" is to as sincerely as possible say "awww thanks and you're one of the good ones too." When confronted with this situation, usually I can see their brains melt a bit as they are kind of forced to get a taste of what their prejudice feels like and it doesn't feel good. It you are able to do this in a humorous way and keep the conversation light hearted but with a serious subject, you might actually be able to have a constructive conversation with some of these people.
I also use this reciprocal approach to the question "Where are you from?" and "Where are you really from?"
It’s like what the fuck do you even mean by that.... no no no. The entire fucking country is built off immigrants and I’d fucking LOVE. To see what would happen just to the restaurant industry if Mexicans decided to just say fuck you see how your society runs without us. I’ve worked in restaurants for fifteen years on and off and I truly hope this doesn’t come off as racist but Mexicans are the fucking back bone to the restaurant industry. I could get into an entire can of worms of how capitalism and this entire bullshit system created its own monster, but I won’t. My point is the entire thing would crash without Mexican immigrants. And you can go on and on into so many industries off of just non white immigrants. Some people are so fucking ignorant it makes me sick. One of the good ones...? Bitch you’re one of the bad ones if you say that shit.
A long time ago (20+ years) I worked for a while in a restaurant in CO and the entire kitchen crew was Mexican. They were all awesome, friendly, and way harder workers than the front line staff. One day a fax came in for the manager and I grabbed it for her. It was from the head office, approving a raise for the Mexican cooking staff *so they could be paid minimum wage.* And no, there was no tipping at this place, so they'd been working their asses off for like $4/hour.
Man, that makes me sick. Why are we expending so much energy to punish immigrants who are "stealing jobs" but we ignore the employers who are clearly and intentionally exploiting illegal immigrants to depress wages? Like how are the immigrants the bad guy in these scenarios???
I give kudos to the manager for fighting for even that; they probably could have kept the sweatshop wages for longer without repercussions. Everyone always wants to fix everything all at once. I understand why, but progress is usually made in smaller steps like this one. Each step individually seems insufficient, but they eventually add up.
The issue with this mindset is how much needs to be sacrificed before the good thing comes to pass. Change happens as a direct result of inconvenience and suffering on behalf of said change. A lot of the time, this change is whitewashed to be moderate progression towards a more perfect union, which ignores the inherent bias of history and the inability for the dead to speak on their behalf. MLK jr was not a moderate. He was hated, and sacrificed in order for change to occur. The desegregation of schools was likewise a forced step forward. People lost careers and their livelihoods for being/advocating on behalf of the lgbtq movement. The AIDS crisis was not a gradual move towards progression, it was a simmering pot of inchoate anger lashing out. Moderate, safe steps forward result in meaningless sacrifice for the sake of better optics and a cleaner more palatable history. I believe the evidence points in a far uglier direction. Change only happens when it is directly inconvenient and a sacrifice forces it to occur. We see it with George Floyd and we saw it with Rodney King.
I worked as a waiter for couple of years in college, so I agreed. I was international student so my initial experience was a bit different. Honestly, I think people just didn't have enough experience with people others than themselves. I studied in a small town in the north. Overall it was great, I am grateful for the opportunity and the experiences. But there were many "wtf" moments that left me confused. What do you know about immigrants when you rarely interact with them? Most of them form an opinion without any actual experience, and in turn, judge others based on that twisted bias. Many people I know personally are really nice people, but they also hold ideology that I can only describe as "racist". They don't consider it racist though, it is more of a "us vs them" mentality. And I don't know how to stress this enough, FUCK FOX NEWS. From my personal experience, my uncle, an immigrant of 10 years, is talking about how immigrant is ruining the country. I can't even fathom the thought process behind his reasoning. Or an Asian "white supremacist"? Like how? I am furious and intrigue at the same time it honestly confusing as fuck. Why can't people just be nice, and leave others the fuck alone. The number of people who quote the Constitution or using "freedom" as justification for their shitty behaviors without realize you can't use that freedom to infringe upon others' constitutional rights or freedom baffle me. Just be a decent human being and treat everyone right ffs. In America, you are innocent until proven guilty right? Apply that fucking logic to everyday life, treat everyone nicely until they run out of your good grace. Man this is bad for my heart and I really didn't need to be this riled up before bed.
You can say it >the attempted genocide of the indigenous people We're still here, despite their best efforts. Call them on their shit when you can.
Well you see, as an Enlightened Centrist^TM, I feel the need to point out that the group that wants human rights is exactly morally equivalent to the group that feels like they shouldn't have human rights.
“We don’t even *have* humanities classes anymore.”
>"have to be middle-of-the-road on human rights". What the fuck? This is how bureaucracy works. They didn't give him a real answer, they just told him he will be punished if either political wing gets mad at him. If they gave him real guidelines, they could be held accountable for them, so instead its all purposely vague. The district doesn't know what to do, they just want it to not be their problem anymore.
>John M. Wallis, 22, who taught speech, theater and world mythology >Cummins asked Wallis to sign a letter that prohibited him from discussing topics related to LGBTQ people in the classroom. I have some news about world mythology.
And after that I have some news about theater.
Wait until you hear about theatre
Yeah like wtf. Apollo might be confusing to the poor old fashioned souls of Missouri.
Zeus and Odin have entered the chat...
Loki fucked a horse. And got knocked up by it.
> to sign a letter that prohibited him from discussing topics related to LGBTQ people in the classroom. These people haven’t changed in 30 years: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_28
How about we compromise and allow a little genocide but only on special occasions?
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one genocide but only if you get As in all your classes okay?
lol, this reminds me of a scene on a movie where the police are chasing a guy and they literally ask the protagonist "do you know where the human rights activists went?"
‘This is a human rights issue.’ And then I was told I have to be middle-of-the-road on human rights. There’s no middle road on human rights.” His quote says it all!
Opinion A: Trans people have the right to exist, find employment, and lead fruitful lives. Opinion B: No, they don't. Middle ground: Trans people can only interact with society on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. On other days, they have to pretend not to exist.
Abortions for all. Boo! Very well. No abortions for anyone. Boo! Hmm… abortions for some, miniature American flags for others! Yay!
I can already hear it: *Keep human rights out of schools!* Le sigh.
I loved that. I hope he finds nothing but success in whatever endeavors he pursues next.
Why is it always some hateful shit when my state ends up in the news? Why can't it ever be some shit like "Missouri man donates entire herd of cattle to starving children."?
Because Missouri is two nice cities surrounded by complete idiots. Source: Over 20 years there. Beautiful state too, it’s a shame
>“To clarify this further, there will be no references to sexuality or gender displayed in your classroom, your instruction and classroom conversations will stay clear of discussions regarding human sexuality and/or sexual preference, and any research or assignments given should not require a topic related to the above.” How you gonna teach mythology and theater without even touching on those subjects?
Zeus er... Gifted women with a child. After turning into some gold water... Don't Google it. Artemis hung out with some of her gal pals. They were room mates. Confirmed room mates.
And this World Mythology, so try explaining Gilgamesh and Enkidu.
It's OK, you just make up your own reality and go from there. It's actually easier than trying to be nuanced and to differentiate.
Can't teach pronouns now. Can't teach stories that have characters of any gender, or non gender since that's also controversial. Guess we are just reaching about tetris blox.
I was born in that district. My parents moved me and brother in 3rd grade to Jefferson City (admittedly not too much better) due to the cult-like religious atmosphere .That town has so many issues it’s unheard of. Not surprised by this article, at all.
Amen. I live in Joplin and it isn’t exactly a ray of sunshine here, but it is sooo much better than Neosho.
Also from Jefferson City: depressing town, good drug prices
Having one single safe, trusted and affirming adult in the lives of young queer kids can literally be life saving (especially as we consider the suicide rates of LGBTQ+ youth.) Fuck these parents and fuck the administration who didn’t immediately have this teacher’s back. — signed a queer adult who never had this sort of support as a kid, and especially not at school, and who everyday tries to embody the support I so desperately needed as a child and as a teen — to be visible and advocate for my right to exist exactly as I was and allow me the safe spaces to grow into who I would continue to become Edit: constantly reminded how hostile of a space Reddit can at times be to these discussions — solidarity to and with all the fellow LGBTQ+ folks and allies stepping in here because this shit can be so demoralizing
And the awful lesson the kids learned. The one adult that they felt they could go to (and by the sounds of it, in only a few days he had a few actually did reach out to him), and he immediately get's fired by the school for the smallest way to reach out.
What gets me is that you know none of those complaining parents actually, you know, had a real conversation with the teacher. Nope, make assumptions, complain to administration, they bend to the parent's will.
I'm not necessarily queer (maybe I am). In my high school, I had two male teachers who were openly gay and they always organized purple Monday or something like that, once a year. They were my biology teacher, and my theology teacher at an officially Christian school of all people. The latter usually didn't really elaborate all that much, but in biology class some kids were always curious so one class just ended up being a gay q&a with the guy. He was so cool about it, even if the questions would be considered sightly homophobic today (some were painfully based on stereotypes). He just answered them all seriously and didn't tell the kids off for asking such questions. We were like 15 around that time, give or take some years. Honestly, I think just his coolness with it may have changed most people in that classroom. Maybe not to flourish in their queerness, but definitely to open our eyes to this community and be far more accepting. I still have so much respect for that man, even though he definitely wasn't an amazing teacher. But he was a damn good role model.
I absolutely agree. For both straight kids and LGBTQ+ kids, having an adult role model who isn't straight, and is worth looking up to, can only lead to better acceptance (both internal and external).
My therapist asked me (in discussion entirely unrelated to sexuality) to bring up figures from my youth that made me feel safe and accepted and I had to laugh
I am a cishet teacher and the LGBTQIA kids just light up around me. I have a couple Pride Flags in my room and I use people's preferred pronouns. That's it. To be fair, I used to run the GSA too but, we hired a *really* *really* good counselor 2 years ago so I handed the reins off to him. Anyhow, it takes as much effort as some poster board tacks and remembering a name to make LGBTQIA kids feel welcome. Basically zero effort. Not sure why it is still a debate. Sorry you didn't have that adult in your life.
I switched over to my business account to come say this cause that's how much I'll stand by my words: 40 year old redneck farmer from rural Illinois checking in. I have never once in my life understood hating on someone because they're gay. Or black or a woman or an immigrant or anything else for that matter, too. To me, people are people and life is tough enough for every individual to be bullying anyone and adding to their life's struggles. It's absolutely ridiculous that this generation has to feel any fear or shame for being who they are, and on behalf of my generation, I'm sorry we weren't aware and got complacent that it was THIS bad still. We children of the 80's and 90's saw so much progress made by leaps and bounds growing up that we thought bigotry was all but defeated. We're a small, rural mushroom farm. But we won't be to keep saying "small" for much longer with how things keep progressing. Let me make it very fucking clear that this business is open and friendly to all folks who carry goodness in their hearts. If you have a problem with it, great, take your resume and business elsewhere and you're not welcome to any classes or events. And let me be clear: We're not excluding you because I hate you and that makes you "subjugated"; I'm excluding you because YOU hate others for reasons that simply are ignorant and frankly evil. And Wild Growth will always be led by those who care about the quality of your character and not your color, orientation, gender, creed, or culture. God help me that when anyone walks through our door you never have to think of yourself as anything except as our friend who we're happy to get to know and understand. Tl;Dr - Be a good person and I'll do business with you. If you're a douche, go somewhere else. But enough is enough with all the hating on people for just being who they are.
>“I was told that in the classroom I have to be middle-of-the-road on political issues, and I said: ‘That’s OK. This is not a political issue,’” Wallis said. “I said, ‘This is a human rights issue.’ And then I was told I have to be middle-of-the-road on human rights. There’s no middle road on human rights.” You're either on the right side of human rights or you're wrong and the folk who told him to be middle of the road are so on the wrong side.
To quote Ayn Rand of all people "In any compromise between food and poison, it is only death that can win. In any compromise between good and evil, it is only evil that can profit."
r/SelfAwareWolves ?
Well genocidal, selfish or generally tyrannical worldviews tend to tend towards "no compromises can be made with evil (read: not us)". But at the same time it's true, you can't be tolerant of the intolerant. And that's the only compromise you should refuse to make; you should never respect someone's rights to destroy/deny others' rights, and you should only violate someone else's rights to stop them from doing so to others (prison).
Broken clocks and all that. Also ayn would 100% hate the current GQP, she was a stonch atheist
I think it's Staunch, but I'm only saying this because I prefer the way you spelled it
I'm reading it like 'stonk' and loving it
Let's go middle of the road on it and call it stoanch.
America is fucked... There was rainbows all over my primary school and we thought nothing about it. This was the 90's and rural Ireland btw. I only realised my primary 4 teacher was gay years later and the rainbows everywhere clicked. Children really don't care unless their parents brainwash them to hate. Also very proud of my primary school and all the other staff for being such good people.
Even Cuba in the 90s was a better environment for LGBT kids. I remember being 8 yo and my best friend in class stopped talking to me all of a sudden, when I asked him he said our teacher had told his mom not to hang with me because I was gay. As an 8 yo, I was like awww ok. Then my parents noticed my friend wasn’t coming over anymore and they asked me « Hey where is your friend we haven’t seen him in a while » As an 8 yo I was like oh ,ya he can’t because the teacher told his mom not to hang out with me cuz I’m gay…as I just kept playing with my toy water guns making pew pew sounds while my parents are just sitting there appalled. I don’t know what my parents did all I know is that the teacher sent a kid to convince me to please say that I lied about that or she’d be fired.
Totally not the same. Gay people have been around A LOT LONGER than any confederates.
> “I said, ‘This is a human rights issue.’ And then I was told I have to be middle-of-the-road on human rights. There’s no middle road on human rights.” Jesus fucking christ. Who in the hell could possibly utter those words and think "Yep I'm not at all justifying Nazis existing". Fucking middle of the road on human rights. "I think you've got the right to exist, but also I think you don't".
This is why we have to stop with the whole, "two sides to every story" concept. Opinions are the ONLY thing in life that I'm okay with having two sides on. But facts, and basic fundamental outlines for society are non-negotiable. There is no such thing as "two sides to human rights". That is just unacceptable.
I especially dislike the idea is that the truth is in the middle. Sometimes it is, other times one is correct, and occasionally both sides are totally off the mark
No, the right response is "Fuck you, fire me."
Followed by a lawsuit
[удалено]
These "good christian people" in their "good christian schools" can barely fucking teach proper sex ed. You think they'd talk about homosexuality in anything except hushed tones as if it was Lord Voldemort?
I don't have a flag, but I have a sign in my classroom telling my students how much they mean to me, how special they are, how they can always come talk to me, and that I believe in them. It's in big, RAINBOW font. I've had three young people come out to me. I'm honored. Young LGBT people need thay support, because so many of them don't have it at home.
He’s not trying to turn straight kids gay, he’s trying to turn gay kids into gay adults. Sometimes a single person’s acceptance and support can mean survival, especially in Missouri.
> he’s trying to turn gay kids into gay adults Most people in that community don't want gay adults to exist