Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of 
Here's one of the more outrageous stories you'll hear today. A high school principal in Memphis heard that two students were a gay couple and she posted their names where everyone could see it:
In September of 2007, the principal at Hollis F. Price Middle College High told teachers she wanted the names of all student couples, "hetero and homo," because she wanted to monitor them personally to prevent students from engaging in public displays of affection.The two students now represented by the ACLU, Andrew and Nicholas (who have asked that their last names not be revealed), were two A students who had been seeing each other for a short time and were attempting to keep their relationship quiet and private.
The principal heard about them through another student, then wrote their names on a list she posted next to her desk, in full view of anyone who entered her office.
And it gets worse:
Although the boys had never been observed by any school staff engaging in any sort of display of affection, the principal called Nicholas's mother Nichole.According to Nichole, the principal said things like "Did you know your son is gay?" repeatedly and went on to say that she didn't like gay people and wouldn't tolerate homosexuality at her school.
And the effects were immediate:
Both students say they've had to deal with verbal harassment from both teachers and students since word got out around the school about their principal's actions.According to Nicholas, he also suffered another consequence of the principal's discrimination. He had submitted extensive paperwork and several recommendations from teachers for a school trip to New Orleans to assist in rebuilding efforts.
Having a long history of community service, he was considered a shoo-in to be selected to go before the incident, but then a teacher told Nicholas some faculty were afraid he might "embarrass the school" or engage in "inappropriate behavior."
A few days later, another student who hadn't even applied to go on the trip was selected in his place.
"We never bothered anyone or did a single thing at school that broke any of the rules," said Nicholas, a junior and honor student. "Every day I feel like they're still punishing me, and I'm worried that this is going to hurt my chances to get into a good college."
The ACLU has sent a letter to the school board demanding that the principal be reprimanded, but frankly that's far too light. She should be fired, immediately and with extreme prejudice.
Comments
Almost makes you wish we could bring back flogging as a punishment. This sort of crap really gets the blood boiling and is just shameful. Educator...bah!
Posted by: Scott Reese | April 30, 2008 9:52 AM
She should also be sued personally, hopefully just to the brink of bankruptcy. That behavior is so completely unacceptable and so contrary to what a principal should be doing for students that anything less than that would be an injustice. The student also should be reinstated on that trip. Oh, and all of the faculty members who contributed to the decision not to let him go on the trip, they should be fired too.
Posted by: Disgusted Beyond Belief | April 30, 2008 9:54 AM
Too late, the principal and teachers beat him to it.
Posted by: Abby Normal | April 30, 2008 10:12 AM
For fuck's sake. If my headteacher asked me for such a list, I would tell her EXACTLY where she could stuff her request. Not only is it staggeringly innapropriate, but on a purely practical level it is a massive waste of time. In my form group (I believe it is roughly equivalent to a homeroom class in the USA), in the last year there have probably been 8 or 9 couples formed and split. And that is just the ones I actually know about, and trust me, I have better things to do with my time than actually TRY to find this sort of thing out.
Posted by: Donalbain | April 30, 2008 10:21 AM
An adult's obsession with the romantic couplings of teenagers other than her own children is very, very CREEPY.
Posted by: AnneS | April 30, 2008 10:24 AM
The principal was out of line right from the start, never mind the gay angle. Sure, I get that schools legitimately want to discourage students from shagging in the stairwells, but how does knowing who all the couples are (this week!) help that? What's she going to do, follow them around all day? Is that what she's paid for? Sounds like Ms. Control Freak is a voyeur looking for an excuse to peep.
Posted by: Eamon Knight | April 30, 2008 10:33 AM
WTF?
What's wrong with her?
And to copy AnneS, that's just creepy.
Posted by: student_b | April 30, 2008 10:35 AM
More here.
Posted by: skblllzzzz | April 30, 2008 10:39 AM
The ACLU letter states that the actions of the school violated the students' rights of equal protection, freedom of expression and association, due process, and student privacy.
Of course, there is no Federal protection against discrimination of sexual orientation. (roll eyes)
Posted by: Gingerbaker | April 30, 2008 11:20 AM
I'm with Eamon on this: this principal is a sex-obsessed pervert, using her power to meddle in the private lives of her students. (Besides, why would she need to know who's involved with who in advance, when she can just watch kids in the halls for public displays of affection?)
Not only that, her using her power to bully MINORS puts her ahead of Ken Hutcherson in the cowardly-bully sweepstakes. Guess she can't be #2 in anything, can she?
Posted by: Raging Bee | April 30, 2008 11:21 AM
Got to go with Eamon, I am a Vice Principal at a middle school , 12-15 yo, and the "this week" comment is right on. Our way of dealing with PDA is to let the entire school know which behaviors are inappropriate, and then monitor the grounds to make sure the students are not violating the rules. I always though that students were innocent until I caught them in the wrong. Using the guilty first rule that this principal is invoking would clog my office to a stand still
Piper
Posted by: Piper | April 30, 2008 11:31 AM
What's even more sickening is how much fan-mail the principal will get.
Posted by: Deepsix | April 30, 2008 11:41 AM
Why did such a list even exist? Were the teachers unable to recognize public displays of affection unless they had a list of suspects? It seems to me that even the straight kids should be complaining about the principal's puritanical intrusion into their private lives. If the kids are necking in the halls, the principal is within her authority to tell them to knock it off. But to post a list of those who need special surveillance, like registered sex offenders, is outrageous. The teachers who went along with this panty-sniffing foolishness are beneath contempt.
Posted by: John McKay | April 30, 2008 11:51 AM
"Outrageous" doesn't even begin to describe it.
Her actions were vile, malicious, bigoted, deceitful, and completely at odds with her role as an educator and a trusted guardian of other people's children.
Let's set aside for a moment the fact that her forming a public list of all couples, regardless of sexual orientation, was already a violation of the students' rights. The fact that she used that list to bully children in relationships she doesn't like--and to attack their parents!--is bordering on criminal. No wonder anti-gay bullying is such a problem in schools, when even principals are engaging in it.
Posted by: Wes | April 30, 2008 11:51 AM
Should anyone wish to contact this principal, this is her email:
beasleyd@mcsk12.net
Posted by: molbiogirl | April 30, 2008 12:00 PM
sounds to me like the principal likes 'snitches', so if I were at that school I'd be constantly in there making up as much as I could about as many students as I could... and I'd have my friends do it too. one kids says Bobby's going out with Cindy, then another says he's going out with Jill but Cindy doesn't know it, then a third says they think it's all a cover up so that he can date Bryan on the sly... repeated ad nasauem until updating the little list takes more time than harassing those on it... (if possible, borrow a plot-line or two from a daily soap opera)
Of course, the principal wouldn't get the message, but she'd have to find another way to peer into the lives of the students she's there to oversee.
Posted by: kodiak | April 30, 2008 12:03 PM
What if most of the kids had volunteered that each of them was romantically involved with the principal? Not only would that get her fired, but it would discourage others from trying this kind of thing.
Posted by: Nelson Muntz | April 30, 2008 12:42 PM
Even Dolores Umbridge had to have three or more students gathered together before she wanted them reported.
Posted by: Ferrous Patella | April 30, 2008 12:48 PM
My guess is that she only wanted the names of gay students, but asked for the names of "straight and homo" in order to maintain the laughably idiotic pretense of fairness.
Aside from all this, I hope the creepy bitch never even works near a school again, much less in one.
Posted by: Leni | April 30, 2008 1:13 PM
The families definitely need to sue -- hitting people (and school boards) in their wallets is the only way to get some perverts and bigots to consider changing their behavior. It doesn't cost a whole lot to file suit against someone, but it can get pricey for the defendant to respond.
The whole thing is creepy. Very voyeuristic.
Posted by: Nan | April 30, 2008 1:31 PM
For those who need to update their own lists, the principal is Daphne Beasley (email: beasleyd@mcsk12.net )
Posted by: Dr X | April 30, 2008 1:31 PM
This school is in a very 'black' part of town.
I currently live in Memphis and I am disturbed almost daily by the number of black folks who utterly hate gays. Hate like a KKK hates a black man dating a blond. Blood boiling want to kill level of hate. Send me emails asking me to boycott certain shops because they employ gays or give them benefits level of hate.
I work with folks who were part of the whole MLK civil rights movement but will stare you in the face and say gays are evil.
I wish I could inderstand how folks who were discriminated against because they were classed 'mud people' by manipulating passages from the bible can use that same book to hate other folks so much.
Posted by: ElJay | April 30, 2008 1:39 PM
I just sent a polite letter urging the Memphis City School Board Commission members to take appropriate steps leading to the dismissal of Principal Beasley if the allegations against her prove true. I emphasized that whether Beasley's actions came about through malign intent or very bad judgment is irrelevant. In either case, her actions have endangered students who have been entrusted to her care.
If anyone else is interested in writing, I addressed my email to board president, Tomeka R Hart, Vice President Martavius D. Jones and the members of the Memphis City School Board of Commissioners. Here is the email list for the entire board:
Tomeka Harthartt@mcsk12.net, jonesmartaviusd@mcsk12.net, williamsf@mcsk12.net, whalumkennetht@mcsk12.net, gatewoods@mcsk12.net, MallottBettyJ@mcsk12.net, robinsonp@mcsk12.net, warrenj@mcsk12.net, webbsharona@mcsk12.net
Posted by: Dr X | April 30, 2008 2:15 PM
WTF[insert a suitably huge string of interrobangs here]
You mean she wouldn't already recognize a "PDA" if she saw one? Or did she have some sort of voyeurism thing going on, that she wanted to know who was most likely to put on a show for her? =PFHTFHPHBLFTHPHPHPHBTLFHHHHHH= and other Rude Bodily Noises!!!!!111!!oneeleven!!!!
Stupid nosy perverted mean-spirited bigoted ß¡+¢#. She should be out too -- out on her ass, that is.
But what my Enquiring Mind wants to know is: Why would the students or the teachers cooperate with ßu77$#!+ like that in the first place? She couldn't fire the teachers for not cooperating -- the teachers' union would be all over her ass like toilet paper -- and if the students as a group refused to cooperate, what could she do, kick them all out? Not bloody likely; the parents and the school board would have her head on a platter!
Posted by: themadlolscientist | April 30, 2008 2:19 PM
A correction on the first email address in the list
For Tomeka Hart it should read: hartt@mcsk12.net
Posted by: Dr X | April 30, 2008 2:21 PM
p.s. @Nelson: Brilliant idea. Absolutely brilliant. Sounds like something my high school would have done -- and occasionally did -- in the late 60s. :-) u iz win teh Intarwebz 4 teh day!
@ ElJay: I absolutely agree with your outrage. At the same time, I can't resist being a little snarky about the "mud people" business. Anyone who takes the Bible literally should "know" that as descendents of Adam, who was made out of "the dust of the ground," we're all "mud people"! /snark
Posted by: themadlolscientist | April 30, 2008 2:32 PM
Could you imagine being "outed" by your principal to your mom? What if these two young men were just exploring their sexuality? What if they weren't ready to tell their families?
I have a friend who is a school psychologist. He'll tell us some generalized stories of what the kids tell him. And some of the stories are enough to make one blush. But there are two things he will not do. 1. He will not make the story to where we know who the kid is. And 2. He would never betray a trust to a parent unless the kids safety were in danger (ie. threatening suicide).
This principal needs to find another line of work; one where she doesn't deal with people.
Posted by: Rev. AJB | April 30, 2008 3:00 PM
If anything happens to those kids, the principle should be charged as an accessory to whatever crimes are perpetuated against the kids, as well as having her ass fired.
Posted by: Reynold Hall | April 30, 2008 3:56 PM
I don't think she was being voyeuristic when she compiled that list. Rather, I think this was designed to out a gay couple. She asked for "the names of all student couples, 'hetero and homo.'" I don't understand why she would word it that way if she was only being extremely draconian.
Posted by: Skwee | April 30, 2008 4:09 PM
How long before the wingnut brigade comes to principal Beasley's defense and accuses us of being a lynch mob because we're depriving her of her religious freedom to use her government position to impose her prejudices on others and be a bullying thug?
Posted by: John McKay | April 30, 2008 4:28 PM
In addition to her obvious homophobia, that principal is, in my opinion, rather conflicted about her feelings toward young men. If the allegations are true, she has no business being around young people. Major "creep" factor here!
Posted by: Kristine | April 30, 2008 5:11 PM
One of our local school districts, Maple Grove, MN, is currently spending upwards of $500K to fight a lawsuit brought by two (former, now -- they've been fighting the district for a while) students who wanted to have a gay/straight alliance group at school. The school's superintendent: "If we allow this gay group to meet on school grounds, what's next? The KKK?"
Yes, that's exactly it. If you let gay kids and straight kids meet in a classroom, then the KKK will come knocking on your door the next day, wanting the same treatment.
Just like if we let gay people get married, then that opens the door for me to marry my cats.
Don't you see? The religiousnutjobs have it all figured out. Until THEIR kid comes out of the closet....
Posted by: Angela | April 30, 2008 5:16 PM
Not to derail this thread, but I'm a little fuzzy about why some schools ban all public displays of affection. Why would we want to train kids to view normal, healthy, bonding behaviors as bad? Seems like a pretty messed up, even psychologically damaging, policy to me. I can understand no necking in the halls. But what's wrong with hugs, hand holding, or a parting kiss? These things help build trust and caring between people. I would think they should be encouraged, not ban. What am I missing?
Posted by: Abby Normal | April 30, 2008 5:25 PM
Abby Normal says, "Not to derail this thread, but I'm a little fuzzy about why some schools ban all public displays of affection. Why would we want to train kids to view normal, healthy, bonding behaviors as bad? Seems like a pretty messed up, even psychologically damaging, policy to me. I can understand no necking in the halls. But what's wrong with hugs, hand holding, or a parting kiss? These things help build trust and caring between people. I would think they should be encouraged, not ban. What am I missing?"
Are hugs, hand holding, and parting kisses now considered acceptable businesslike behavior for the office or for the public areas of a business? What is appropriate in a home setting or strictly social setting is not always appropriate in a business setting, and kids (not to mention some adults) have a tough time seeing the lines drawn. School is business, and particularly high school is business. It is unfair to adolescents to confuse them with ambiguities about propriety in business behavior and in public behavior. It is much better to have clear guidelines.
Posted by: Elizabeth | April 30, 2008 5:47 PM
"Are hugs, hand holding, and parting kisses now considered acceptable businesslike behavior for the office or for the public areas of a business?"
Er, I live in Montreal, so yes, yes they are.
Posted by: Sivi Volk | April 30, 2008 6:01 PM
School is business, and particularly high school is business.
Yeah, that's why we have such an emphasis on sports in America's high schools. ;-)
Posted by: Kristine | April 30, 2008 6:06 PM
WTF? again.
Honestly, public display of affection is forbidden in US schools? Really?
Here in good old Europe, we have teenagers routinely making out at school.
At one of the schools I was, there was a young couple, they where so madly in love they were making out in about every break. It wasn't fun to watch anymore, they couldn't leave their hands of each other. But no teacher would ever think of forbidding that to them.
Ok, but I guess holding hands is still ok? If it isn't... well that would really be messed up.
And hugging, hey, I hug my male friends, my female friends and I especially hug somebody who just has messed up an exam.
I mean, you couldn't forbid hugging? Could you?
Posted by: student_b | April 30, 2008 6:45 PM
The fuck it is. School is a state-enforced monopoly on individuals' time. Its saving grace is the social interaction with different people that it necessitates. People like you who wish to cut out the last vestiges of humanity from the institution should not be allowed near it.
Posted by: Grammar RWA | April 30, 2008 7:16 PM
I smell bullshit. I suspect that the inclusion of "hetero" there was strictly a politic move on the principal's part. This is homophobia through and through, and this principal is a ghoul.
Elizabeth,
Wrong. Last I checked, high-schoolers are still kids, and kids are not involved in "business."
Posted by: Sadie Morrison | April 30, 2008 7:31 PM
I smell a civil suit....
Doesn't this justify an invasion of privacy?
Posted by: CHV | April 30, 2008 7:34 PM
Hey Ed, you're always bringing injustices like this to our attention, and I'm thankful for that. In many cases, especially this one, I'd love to do something to help, but I don't know what. I'd call and harass the principal, but that would just make her feel justified or, at worst, make her think she's a martyr for the cause.
So what should we do?
Posted by: Utah | April 30, 2008 7:45 PM
Am I alone in thinking that I've seen more perverse and creepy behavior from anti-sex people like this principal than I ever have from the most flamboyant, flaming exhibitionist ever?
Posted by: David | April 30, 2008 7:45 PM
Except for those biblical literalists who don't believe that everyone is the descendant of Adam, like the polygenists and pre-Adamites.
Posted by: Skemono | April 30, 2008 9:58 PM
Poor guys. This is absolutely foul. There shouldn't be an 'affection police squad' at the school in the first place.
Posted by: Jacob | April 30, 2008 10:26 PM
Leave her a piece of your mind
beasleyd@mcsk12.net
http://www.mcsk12.net/schools/hollisfprice.hs/site/faculty.shtml
Posted by: Derek | May 1, 2008 12:28 AM
Posted by: tincture | May 1, 2008 1:31 AM
Posted by: RebekahD | May 1, 2008 6:01 AM
On PDA, at my school at least, holding hands and hugging/hanging on each other is a non-issue, only when it turns into a lip lock or hands are going places they should not, do I get involved. I am supposed to act as a parent when they are at school, so I have to err on the side of caution. Hugging is a totally different issue than PDA, at least at middle school, everybody hugs everybody, it's like a drive by hugging gallery in the hall. They clog the hall and no one can get through, so I do ban this, if it is a couple or just friends that slid to the side and hug I just let it go, it's not worth my time.
Posted by: Piper | May 1, 2008 3:48 PM
And wouldn't the world be a better place if we just all did this?
Posted by: Rev. AJB | May 1, 2008 3:53 PM
What discrimination?
"In September of 2007, the principal at Hollis F. Price Middle College High told teachers she wanted the names of all student couples, "hetero and homo," because she wanted to monitor them personally to prevent students from engaging in public displays of affection."
Invasion of privacy, yes. But discrimination on sexual orientation? If the above paragraph is true, then the princible was treating homosexual couples in *exactly* the same way she treated heterosexual couples. Equality in action. The test would be if the directive was implimented equally - were all heterosexual couples listed, were no-affection rules enforced with the same level of attention for both - but the article doesn't contain enough information to assess this.
I used to work at a school. There is a very strong reason for surpressing all signs of affection - angry parents who decide to blame the school with the Little Angel picks up a biker boyfriend or gets pregnent. In the lawyer-happy US, I imagine this would be an even greater concern. Parents can be quite dangerous when upset - just look at Hutcherson as an example. He was so upset by the school allowing Day of Silence protests he started a protest outside their gates and convinced a number of parents to withdraw their children from the school.
In the case of gay affection, it is even worse, because the anti-gay parents can be more dedicated than the simply anti-sex parents. Imagine that could happen: Openly gay couple at school, children see, children tell parents. Most of them are fine with that, but... Assume, say, 500 parents for a good-sized school. Assume that 5% of those are rabid homophobes. That gets you 25 parents who are now blockadeing the gates, cold-calling other parents to warn them about the Gay Agenda, harassing staff, and calling local politicians to say the school is endangering their children.
It is so much easier for the school to just oppress all public displays of affection, and thus avoid a parential uprising.
Posted by: Suricou Raven | May 2, 2008 9:21 AM
Public affection is *really* outlawed in the US schools?
Could all of you please immigrate here in Europe (we'll have our own few IDiots shipped to the US in exchange), where people are actually, well, rational. Then we can just build a wall around Jesusland (or, even better, wait a few weeks till they build it themselves) and safely ignore it. (Or declare it a zoological reserve, and have a look once in a while, for fun).
Here at least, we know the difference between the business-like part of school (I won't let anything uneducational going on in my classroom, and frankly sudoku is much worse than kissing on this respect) and the breaks, where we respect the right of students to a bit of privacy and social- and sentimental-life building. (Besides, this makes for amusing gossip subjects in the teachers' room).
Maybe this repression is a source of all the weirdness going on in the college youth later, when they at least can get some steam off...
Posted by: Jérôme ^ | May 2, 2008 11:09 AM
Thank goodness there's no chance that a heterosexual student could do something embarrassing or inappropriate while on a school field trip.
Posted by: Andrea | May 2, 2008 2:05 PM
David:
These puritannical freaks wouldn't know real perversion if it bit them on the ass.
Posted by: phantomreader42 | May 2, 2008 4:54 PM
Yes Jérôme ^, though it would be more accurate to say some US schools have policies against public displays of affections, rather than saying it's outlawed.
Some schools have even gone so far as to ban all physical contact between students. I've read of instances where students have gotten detention for giving a high-five. We block these kids from building healthy emotional connections and then we wonder why school shootings are on the rise.
That "move to Europe" offer is looking mighty tempting.
Posted by: Abby Normal | May 2, 2008 5:22 PM
Really. So the principal outed straight kids to their parents and the rest of the school, called up their parents and yelled at them, and was railing that she wouldn't tolerate heterosexuality in her school?
Posted by: Skemono | May 2, 2008 7:37 PM
Monitor the Principal. I'm fairly certain that SHE has skeletons in her closet.
Everyone does.
Find the bones!!
Find a legal way to publish her private life.
JUST DO IT!
Posted by: Chuck | November 26, 2008 11:44 AM