Teaching Tolerance and Freedom of the Press?!

We can't have that. A high school journalism teacher was banned from teaching journalism because the student newspaper ran an editoral calling for tolerance of gays:

WOODBURN, Indiana (AP) -- A high school teacher who faced losing her job after a student newspaper published an editorial advocating tolerance of gays can continue teaching at another school.

Amy Sorrell, 30, reached an agreement that allows her to be transferred to another high school to teach English, said her attorney, Patrick Proctor.

"The school administration has said in no uncertain terms that she's not going to be given a journalism position," Proctor said.

Sorrell, who had been an English and journalism instructor at Woodlan Junior-Senior High School, was placed on paid leave March 19, two months after an editorial advocating tolerance of homosexuals ran in Woodlan's student newspaper, The Tomahawk. Sorrell had been the newspaper's adviser.

School officials in the conservative northern Indiana community about 10 miles east of Fort Wayne said Sorrell did not comply with an agreement to alert the principal about controversial articles.

The agreement she signed includes a written reprimand that says she neglected her duties as a teacher and was insubordinate in refusing to obey school officials' orders.

Sorrell said she is "very proud" of Megan Chase, the student who wrote the editorial calling for tolerance and acceptance of gays, and the Tomahawk's other writers and editors. But she said she could not financially afford to fight the school district over her discipline.

Keep in mind, the editoral advocated tolerance. Should they have let another student write an op-ed, "Why Victimizing Queers Is Good?" to provide counter-balance? I'm sick of the Lizard Brain People being taken seriously. There is no legitimate argument against tolerating gays and lesbians. Period. Yet, if one points out what the Lizard Brain People are actually saying (e.g., "Why Victimizing Queers Is Good?"), one is called impolite or vulgar.

Fuck that.

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Looking at this sort of thing from outside the US (from Canada, actually), this is the sort of absurdity that is all too common, and that makes one ask, "What has happened to the country?"

I've had my own criticisms of the US in years past, but the world needs the US and what it stands for ... or perhaps I mean "what I thought it stood for."

By Scott Belyea (not verified) on 29 Apr 2007 #permalink

Seems to me that the balance would be someone who argued that tolerance isn't enough, but that we should actively work towards social justice, including legal rights for glbt folks.

Seems to me that the balance would be someone who argued that tolerance isn't enough, but that we should actively work towards social justice, including legal rights for glbt folks

Looking at this sort of thing from outside the US (from Canada, actually), this is the sort of absurdity that is all too common, and that makes one ask, "What has happened to the country