At long last we arrive at Part 5 of a lengthy email exchange between me and a public high school censor—I mean, “educator”—who arrogates to himself the right to decide which ontological and moral views regarding homosexuality are true and life-giving, and then censors all competing views.
Once again, we find leftists in government positions abusing the power and resources of government to promote their subjective beliefs. Conservatives are rightly outraged by the IRS’s abuse of power, but relatively few say anything about the abuse of power that takes place in our public schools with our most vulnerable and impressionable citizens: children. How is it more reprehensible for the IRS to target and in effect silence political groups that espouse conservative beliefs than it is for public schools to target and censor resources that espouse conservative beliefs? The fact that this teacher said he would never allow students to read the work of Princeton Law Professor Robert P. George is shocking.
Citizens in every community should demand that their schools have explicit policy prohibiting teachers from presenting any resources on homosexuality (or gender confusion) unless they’re willing to spend equal time having students study resources from the best scholars on both sides of the debate. And presumptuous teachers like this Maine teacher should be required to post their commitments to censorship of conservative views on issues related to homosexuality on their faculty webpages on their school websites. Here goes…:
Hi Laurie, it is telling to me that you refuse to visit the GLADD Commentator Accountability Project. Either the quotes attributed to you and your “scholars” are true or not. You don’t need me to cull the particular comments that are reprehensible in my estimation. You can do that on your own. You will recognize (indeed I think you already know) the filth that is expressed by so many of you. If there is anything scurrilous it is the plethora of hateful, bigoted commentary from so many on that site who, while presenting a Christian persona whenever invited to a national discussion still are saddled with the truth of their innate homophobia and willful attempts to denigrate gay people and especially (and most egregiously) gay kids who simply want nothing more than to be loved and appreciated for whom they are.
I googled your name earlier this evening since I was not particularly familiar with you prior to our most recent exchanges. Laurie, you are dangerous and disturbed. You will ask me why I say that. So, once again, google yourself and you will come to know why I am of that opinion. I will devote my life to protecting kids from you and your messages and tactics. You seem oblivious to how the larger world perceives you. I said in an earlier post that your objective seems quite clear: convince the world that gay adults and kids are immoral and their dreams are immoral, too. Nothing I have read on-line or in your e-mails to me even remotely suggests that you believe differently. How can you expect me, a teacher to kids, to ignore the inherent harm you would willfully deliver to some children?
As teachers we are charged with protecting our students from adults who would diminish them, threaten them, marginalize them. Academic freedom does not mean that you or anyone has the right, let alone freedom, to tell any gay kid that they are “disordered”.
We started our conversations with you professing a love for your kid’s gay friends and others you know as gay. I find myself absolutely appalled that you would begin our conversations with such professions and then follow those comments up with such blatant expressions of disdain for those you know and any gay person whether you know them or not. Do you have no shame? I truly believe that you and so many like you have forgotten that every gay adult was, first, a gay child.
Read the GLADD Commentator Accountability Project. You will then know that George and Anderson and everyone else on that list have no academic credentials that any responsible, caring and professional educator or educational institution would ever entertain as a reputable source of pedagogical vision.
Laurie, I know that I have presented tough commentary in my e-mail to you. But I do not apologize for that. I have said from the very beginning of our shared dialogue that all kids, and particularly gay kids, are my primary concern. After two days of exchanges I believe you have no concern for kids. I do not believe that you love any gay child. Since you are a parent this must smart but your words and the words of many in your camp are your enemy.
Laurie, I said earlier that I am comfortable and quite optimistic that It Gets Better is actually true for many, perhaps most gay kids today. I am cheered that so many indications suggest that justice and equality for gays is a driving force world-wide. It is sad to me that so many of you would so willingly castigate and denigrate gay persons and most especially gay children. But here is the silver lining in your hate. The world sees you and yours for what you are. Your words are you. It is a failing strategy most importantly because your naked aggression simply is not shared by decent citizens in the U.S. and worldwide (Russian blowback is a good example).
R
R,
I have no interest in what GLAAD has to say. I want you to defend your assertions with evidence, and once again you refuse. Why not simply copy and paste those quotes from Robert George that you believe are “bigoted, hateful, vile, homophobic, appalling, offensive, uncivil, impolite, abusive” and “dangerous.”
And please give one quote in which I express hatred for homosexuals.
You have misquoted me: I did not say that kids who identify as homosexual are “disordered.” I said same-sex attraction is disordered. All humans experience disordered impulses or feelings, but those disordered feelings do not define them. Teens who experience same-sex attraction are much more than their sexual impulses. Furthermore, I don’t believe that in order to love people I have to affirm all of their feelings, beliefs, and life choices.
Once again, if my moral propositions are true, then expressing them is not hateful. You have no ethical right as a public servant paid by taxpayers to decide which ontological or moral propositions are unfit to present in schools and censor them. If your biased moral views are false, then expressing them is potentially dangerous and destructive. If your subjective beliefs about the nature and morality of homosexuality are wrong, you are harming children. I believe you are harming kids, promoting falsehoods that damage hearts, souls, and bodies. You have simply assumed yours are true and then use public resources to promote them. If you want to serve as an advocate for particular moral and political beliefs, censoring all viewpoints with which you disagree, go teach in a private school. Who are you to presume to be the ultimate arbiter between two competing visions of truth on this most controversial subject and then use public funds to censor dissenting visions?
Your assertions about Robert George and Ryan Anderson are both presumptuous and preposterous. You laughably claim that George has no “academic credentials that any responsible, caring and professional educator or educational institution would ever entertain as a reputable source of pedagogical vision.” Tell that to Princeton University. Here is just a bit about George.
Laurie
Laurie, my interest is in protecting kids from dangerous people who, in public, present a false persona yet, out of the spotlight seek to diminish, negate and shame gay children. I will not countenance that. Remember, I said I now know you and I know George, Anderson and others. A Princeton Phd is good cover for a truly disturbed person. You, apparently, must access GLADD in order to understand me. Just as I would never use some of the vile terms directed at you, I will not even entertain, in print, any of the vile terms/expressions found on GLADD. Simply put, I don’t appreciate your friends; they are dangerous people who obsess about homosexuality in sinister and sick ways. When necessary, I will speak out in defense of kids against adults who seek their harm.
R
R,
Your steadfast refusal to provide even a single quote from either Robert George (who is not my friend, though I wish he were) or me suggests that even you may realize how silly or outrageous your claim that we are “deeply disturbed” and say “bigoted, hateful, vile, homophobic, appalling, offensive, uncivil, impolite, abusive” and “dangerous” things. Your attempt to ennoble your refusal behind some spurious claim that you “will not even entertain, in print, any of the vile terms/expressions found on GLADD,” fails because neither I nor Robert George have said anything dangerous, abusive, disturbed or hateful.
Here’s yet another really peculiar and contradictory claim of yours: You said that I present a “public, false persona” and yet “out of the spotlight seek to diminish, negate, and shame gay children.” That’s peculiar in that it was the private things I shared with you about my personal life that you said indicated I did not hate homosexuals. It is the very public things that I have written that you claim are “bigoted, hateful, vile, homophobic, appalling, offensive, uncivil, impolite, abusive, dangerous” and “deeply disturbed.” Curiously, you refuse to cite the public statements that purportedly expose my hidden side.
I too seek to protect children from the harm caused by dangerous, destructive, and false ideas. The difference is you’re using the power and resources of government to promote your subjective views and censor those with which you disagree. And that is both dangerous and un-American.
I asked you earlier if you present any resources to your English classes at Freeport High School that address homosexuality and gender confusion. Surely, you can answer that.
Laurie
Laurie, we’ve said all we need to say.
R
As further evidence—as if any were needed—that teachers use their positions to advance their personal beliefs, here is a news storyabout last spring’s graduation ceremony at Freeport High School in Maine, during which homosexual American Studies teacher and “gay-straight” alliance sponsor Rich Robinson preached:
[K]eynote speaker Rich Robinson, American Studies teacher at Freeport High, who sang and occasionally danced his way through a speech that used “The Wizard of Oz” as a metaphor for lessons in courage, intelligence and most importantly, heart….As a gay man, Robinson said, he used his own experience in courage to highlight the importance of staying true to yourself.
“You know me and you know what I am,” said Robinson. “But like the cowardly lion, I lacked the courage for too many years to be myself. This is a grand and glorious world that in part has to do with the diversity in people. As juniors, you learned about the importance of identity. One aspect of mine is most different from anybody here. I mustered the courage after many years to embrace that aspect of myself and with that has come a wonderful measure of self-respect and integrity in my community. What I wish for you is that when you leave us and go off into the great world, that you will come to know yourself and come to celebrate yourself.”
The homosexuality-affirming advocacy and commitment to censorship of teachers subsidized by federal, state, and local taxes likely sits well with “progressive” constituents, but perhaps not so well with conservatives.
**Parents**: If you are able either to homeschool your children or send them to Christian private schools, do so. Public schools dominated by presumptuous “educators” are becoming institutions of propaganda for sexual deviance.
And taxpayers with or without children in public schools: Have the courage to object to this usurpation of government-subsidized schools by homosexuality/gender confusion activists and their ideological allies.
Read more in this series: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4
Stand with us
Your support of our work and ministry is always much needed and greatly appreciated. Your prayers for our staff, families and work are coveted. Also, the promotion of our articles on Facebook, Twitter, your own email network is vital if we hope to spread the pro-family message. And of course, your financial support is a huge part of our ability to be a strong voice for the here in the Land of Lincoln.
Please consider standing with us by giving a tax-deductible donation HERE, or by sending a gift to P.O. Box 88848, Carol Stream, IL 60188.
