Free Republic picks on gay student for daring to defend himself

An incident took place recently in Illinois where a gay high school student complained that a teacher used an anti-gay slur in class:

Geneva School Board members voted Tuesday night to issue a warning against a Geneva High School teacher, who a student claimed made a homosexual slur in his classroom last week.

The notice against teacher David Burk states that any further improprieties could result in dismissal.

Geneva High School senior Jordan Hunter, who is gay and said he was personally offended by the remark, did not think the board's action went far enough. He believed Burk should have been fired.

"I'm just disappointed," Hunter said. "I'm shocked, really. This is not an acceptable end result."
According to Hunter, Burk said during a classroom lecture on Oct. 5, "How do you feel about your tax dollars being spent to fund black [homosexual slur] taking pictures of other black [homosexual slur] in New York?"

To the folks at Free Republic, the teacher is the real victim here.

Yeah, I know it's Free Republic and I know their history of being ugly (i.e. the meanspirited comments about President Obama's daughter, Malia), but still some things need to be put out there as a reminder of just how rude some folks are.

The site even posted a picture of the student so that the post respondees can make fun of him.

And they do unload on him:

Can’t say black anything nowadays. Proof they want thought police and speech police ONLY if it is against the right. Let me guess...he said FAG...oh the horror. Its better than the vulgarity spewed out by “fags” in churches in California. The homosexual worshiping left wanst “Fag” on par with the N word and the F word and more...they know its power.

How dare he offend the left’s great “Rectal god”!

Well. At least he looks the part. (Editor's note - yes the comment is talking about the student)

Not his mom, the mom of a “friend.” Poor little nerd, he is always going to be unhappy and be blaming it on the people who “hate gays.”

Conspicuously absent are Jordan’s parents!! Jordan needs to develop a thicker skin. He’s in for a rude awakening in the real world.

To me, in the photo provided, Jordan Hunter looks uncomfortable with himself. It is as if he knows that homosexual acts are acts of grave depravity, and are contrary to natural law. He knows that under no circumstances can they be approved. We do not know whether he chose his homosexual condition; because for most it is a trial. Unjust discrimination must be avoided. Jordan, and others in his condition, are called to fulfill God’s will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord’s Cross the difficulties they may encounter. Basically they are called to chastity. No sane person can be comfortable with people that statistically carry high risks of sexually transmitted diseases, HIV, AIDS, depraved and unnatural acts, and, as a group, a statistically significant shorter lifespan. How can anyone with common sense pretend that this is normal and acceptable? The teacher has already experienced more than enough punishment, IMO.

Poofer gets the vapors... tears @ 11.

Geneva High School senior Jordan Hunter, who is gay and said he was personally offended by the remark. Too bad. You made a choice that is going to haunt you for the rest of your life. Better get used to being offended and worse.. Once you decide to live a lifestyle of perversion and disease you have to accept the consequences that go along with that.
Oh and by the way. NO ONE has any rights never to be offended. Can’t find that clause in the Constituion anywhere........

These words were inappropriate, and I am truly sorry for my actions,” the apology stated. “The message I conveyed was insensitive and hurtful. That is not what I had intended." Grow a spine Mr Burk You made the comment and frankly there was nothing wrong with it. Tired of everyone being offended by everything. What a bunch of sheep...

Musn’t offend the Fudgepackers. Especially not the Black fudgepackers.

Talk about someone in serious need of a butt kicking. I’m sure that Jordan’s Rest Stop Bathroom Buddies will take care of that.

You gotta love those "defenders of American values" who feel compelled to verbally attack a high school student for daring to defend himself.

So I guess the Freepers think that Hunter (and by extension, all of us lgbts) should be like that self-hating gay character in the play Boys in the Band - the one who after collapsing in the arms of his lover/friend says "If only we could learn to hate ourselves a little bit less"

Someone should tell these folks that the gay of the self-hating lgbt is headed for a slow, but well-deserved and painful death.

What Hunter did was correct and it signals something that I rather like.

Lgbt children should not be subjected to this sort of nonsense. Many of us who are adults (that means intellectual-wise as well as age-wise) know this.

The trick is making sure that lgbt children are also aware of this and making sure that they stand up for themselves when situations like this occur.

So continue to stand up for yourself, Hunter. And don't let the outcome bother you. When you stood up for yourself, you also stood up for millions of lgbt children.

You have more people on your side than against you.

Also, I would be remiss not to mention this incident more than validates the work done by people like Kevin Jennings.

Jon Stewart skewers Fox Network for not covering the National Equality March

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Queer and Loathing in D.C.
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Ron Paul Interview

I never even considered this because I try not to watch the Fox Network. In light of how the network sponsored that tea party mess, it is a good question to ask why didn't it cover Sunday's National Equality March.

Jon Stewart not only asks the question but raises some very good points.

Related post:

What the National Equality marchers didn't do says a lot about what they accomplished

Presenting the dumbest reason to oppose gay marriage and other Wednesday midday news briefs

I respect people's right to believe what they want but this has to be the DUMBEST reason to keep marriage equality away from lgbts:




And in other news:

Iowa: head of local NAACP champions anti-gay gubernatorial candidate for marriage repeal promise - Or as I like to term it - "NAACP head loses his mind."

NOM and Catholic Diocese Provide Almost 2/3rds of “Yes on Q1″ Budget - Should we be even surprised?

Shareholders Ask Walt Disney to Include Ex-Gays in Company's Non-Discrimination Policies - The irony is, being "ex-gay" i.e. now heterosexual, they are ALREADY included in the company's non-discrimination policies.

Is an apology enough over 'black fag' remark? - I DARE the religious right to defend the teacher here!

Religious right anger over Harvey Milk day goes from comical to offensive

Naturally members of religious right organizations are angry at California Governor Arnold Swarzeneggar for signing legislation designating a day of recognition for legendary lgbt activist Harvey Milk.

Two of the responses, in particular, caught my attention. One came from the organization Save California:

“Harvey Milk* was a sexual predator of teens, an advocate of polygamous relationships, a public liar, and is in no way a good role model for impressionable schoolchildren,” said Randy Thomasson, president of SaveCalifornia.com. “Sadly, children in public schools will now have even more in-your-face, homosexual-bisexual-transsexual indoctrination. This provides the strongest impetus yet for loving parents to remove their children from anti-family public schools.”

“’Harvey Milk Day’ teaches children as young as five years old to admire the life and values of the notorious homosexual activist Harvey Milk” said Thomasson. “The ‘suitable commemorative exercises’ that are part of ‘Harvey Milk Day’ can easily result in cross-dressing exercises, ‘LGBT pride’ parades and mock gay weddings on school campuses -- everything Harvey Milk supported.”

So honoring Harvey Milk will cause children to come to school "crossdressed" as members of the opposite sex?

Who knew. Someone should tell Thomasson that this already happens via powder puff football games and spirit week activities.

Now as for that other stuff - lgbt pride parades and mock gay weddings - there is nothing wrong with a school having events, i.e. parades and the like, just like there is nothing wrong with a school commemorating Black History Month or Women's History Month.

No doubt Thomasson is conjuring up images of school children in leather chaps and carrying whips or dressed as colorful drag queens.

And Harvey Milk was supposed to be the pervert?

In all seriousness, Thomasson is sounding the hysterical alarm. And rather badly too.

The second response isn't one that I can make light of because it gets me angry. It comes from a One News Now article entitled Homosexuality 'not a civil right':

Last month, the Orange County Board of Education voted unanimously (5-0) to oppose the creation of Harvey Milk Day. Dr. Alexandria Coronado, chairman of that board, says she is "absolutely furious" that the homosexual community is claiming that passage of the Harvey Milk bill is a civil rights victory.

"I think it just absolutely denigrates the entire civil rights movement. Homosexuality is not a civil right," Coronado emphasizes.

"I don't remember the last time that a homosexual person was forced to move out of their seat on a public bus, like Rosa Parks. And I don't remember the last time that a homosexual person or student...was forced to go to a segregated school, as in the case of Mendez v. Westminster, which took place right here in Orange County, California."

The title is ignorant and the piece is distractive.

Last week marked an ugly anniversary - the murder of Matthew Shepard. You do remember him, don't you? He was the young man targeted and murdered because of his sexual orientation.

Then there was Sakia Gunn, an African-American lesbian stabbed to death because she refused the sexual advances of her male attacker.

And lets not forget Michael Sandy, an African-American gay man who was hit by a car after running away from men who targeted him for robbery because he was gay.

There are so many other we have heard of and many more whose names we will never know - some of the latter are children who have been bullied, kicked aside, and not able to take advantage of a full education because they are lgbt.

But as long as no one places them in the "back of a bus," there is no problem. Right?

Coronado misses the point of why Parks took her stance. It wasn't about riding on a bus but about basic dignity; the ability to live your life without being disrespected and treated like you have no value.

In the long run, that's what it's all about, whether you are an lgbt, an African-American, or both.

The religious right fears Chai Feldblum because she believes in basic fairness

Not all of the religious right's energy has been devoted to attacking Obama's education dpt. appointee Kevin Jennings.

They are also throwing fits at the President's pick to lead the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Chai Feldblum.

I've heard rumblings of ugly charges right up there with those lodged against Jennings - Feldblum advocates polygamy, she is a "radical homosexual activist," etc.

You want to know the real reason the religious right fears Feldblum? It lies in a piece she wrote entitled Moral Conflict and Liberty: Gay Rights and Religion.

There is a specific part in it (starting on pg. 50) that I'm guessing makes folks like Peter LaBarbera, Matt Barber, Donald Wildmon, and James Dobson apoplectic:

Ensuring that LGBT people can live honestly and safely in all
aspects of their social lives requires that society set a baseline of
non-discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender
identity. If individual business owners, service providers and
employers could easily exempt themselves from such laws by
making credible claims that their belief liberty is burdened by the
law, LGBT people would remain constantly vulnerable to surprise
discrimination. If I am denied a job, an apartment, a room at a
hotel, a table at a restaurant or a procedure by a doctor because I
am a lesbian, that is a deep, intense and tangible hurt. That hurt is
not alleviated because I might be able to go down the street and get
a job, an apartment, a hotel room, a restaurant table or a medical
procedure from someone else. The assault to my dignity and my
sense of safety in the world occurs when the initial denial happens.
That assault is not mitigated by the fact that others might not treat
me in the same way.

Thus, for all my sympathy for the evangelical Christian
couple who may wish to run a bed and breakfast from which they
can exclude unmarried straight couples and all gay couples, this is
a point where I believe the “zero sum” nature of the game
inevitably comes into play. And, in making the decision in this
zero sum game, I am convinced society should come down on the
side of protecting the liberty of LGBT people. Once an individual
chooses to enter the stream of economic commerce by opening a
commercial establishment, I believe it is legitimate to require that
they play by certain rules. If the government tolerated the
private exclusionary policies of such individuals in the commercial
sector, such toleration would necessarily come at the cost of gay
people’s sense of belonging and safety in society. Just as we do
not tolerate private racial beliefs that adversely affect African-
Americans in the commercial arena, even if such beliefs are based
on religious views, we should similarly not tolerate private beliefs
about sexual orientation and gender identity that adversely affect
LGBT people.

In other words, Feldblum believes that a business should not be allowed to discriminate against lgbts no matter the so-called "deeply held personal beliefs" of the owner.

She does not believe owners of an apartment building should have the right to deny lgbts housing even if they have a so-called "deeply held personal belief" that homosexuality is a sin.

And she does not believe that the beliefs of service providers should override the needs of those they are supposed to be serving.

Well get the tar and feathers right now!

Just where does this Feldblum think she is?

America where we have a Constitution that guarantees equal protection under the law?

One News Now rediscovers 'THE GAYS' and other Tuesday midday newsbriefs

FRC: Their cold onslaught is nothing new. But why the cold feet? - The Family Research Council removed an interesting piece it published about President Obama's speech to HRC. I also wonder why.

Gay sailor: My comrades locked me in a ‘feces-filled dog kennel’ - This is naaaasty!

White House Talks DADT With Lieberman - Let's get the show on the road!

Guilty by Association by Association - Bearing false witness is a sin.

And now time for a little fiber in our diet courtesy of One News Now. The phony news service has discovered THE GAYS again:

Flip-flopper governor signs 'Harvey Milk' bill

Montana judges smack down parental rights

Disney elevates homosexual to studio chief

House member wants Jennings out - Special note here - They are pushing the "Harry Hay" distortion.

Kevin Jennings receives an 'apology' for inaccurate murder claim

Apparently my post on the new lie regarding Kevin Jennings - that he advocates murdering people if they call someone a 'faggot' attracted some attention from a few circles- most specifically from the site who wrote the original piece.

The piece came from the site Verum Serum. Via the original headline, it pushed the notion that Jennings did advocate murder. Jennings was actually saying that society is part the blame for school violence because it enhances gender stereotypes and extreme machismo in males.

After I posted my piece, one of the authors of the site accused me of not reading the entire post. The poster claimed the site was not accusing Jennings of murder, but rather unfairly blaming traditional gender roles for school violence. While I lodged disagreement with that assessment, I stuck with the main idea of my post - no matter what Verum Serum meant by what it wrote, opportunistic sites were using the post to claim that Jennings advocates murder.

Finally, one of the posters of Verum Serum sent me this reply:

. . . you're right that some blogs missed the point. Once we caught on to the error, we did try out best to address the confusion.

First we changed the headline of our post which apparently threw some people (with a note retaining the original because we don't "disappear things at VS"). Next, I personally followed backlinks to several blogs and left comments pointing out where necessary that they had misconstrued our meaning and asking for corrections.

We may not have spoken to everyone but our efforts did have an effect. One blogger apologized to me privately this afternoon and corrected a post. A second blogger wrote an entire apology on his own site to both us and Jennings for his misunderstanding. You can see it here.

My point is that this was not a smear or a lie. We were making a serious critique that we believed (and still do) was valid. When that accidentally got muddled beyond our blog, we did our best to correct it. We'll continue to do so. If you see it pop up anywhere, please let us know or direct them to this comment thread or to our site for clarification.

The headline has been changed with a full explanation, but the damage has been done.

For one thing, the Washington Times has already pushed the distortion in a poor attempt to smear Jennings.

And several other conservative blogs have already run with the original "Jennings advocates murder" claim, including Free Republic.

In all honesty, I have a problem Verum Serum's explanation.

The site claims that the original headline ("Killing Someone Who Calls You a Faggot is not Aberrant Behavior...") caused confusion. That may be but I tend to think that the headline was created specifically to cause confusion.

Mission accomplished, Verum Serum.

But still, it's nice that you have corrected yourself. Too bad you had to be caught to do it.

Related post:

New lie lodged against Kevin Jennings - he 'advocates' murder