Homophobic Principle Holds an Assembly... [UPDATE]

Should she be fired?

Yes.	91.5%	[ 43 ]
No.	8.5%	[ 4 ]
Total Votes:			[ 47 ]

[Jubilant Sunrise]

Memphis Flyer's Article on Homophobic Principal

Haywood High School principal Dorothy Bond allegedly said gay students were "not on God's path" and threatened to expel them if they were caught showing public affection for same-sex students, according to reports made to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) by students. Now the ACLU of Tennessee has sent a letter to the Haywood County school district superintendent.

The full article can be found here. What is your opinion on this? Is this principal exercising her free speech by her statements, or should she be fired?


UPDATE:

keeping my secrets

You guys know she resigned hours after this got out into the news, right? biggrin

Thank you for the update keeping my secrets.

[Kodo_Giasu]

Yeah she should be fired, you can't fill young people with ideas that being gay is wrong. Even though it shouldn't really matter, I didn't see it mention that it was a religious school, maybe in a situation like that then should she could have her opinion heard.

Though the public affection thing, I don't really think that has a place at school, for anyone.

[Taikyoku]

Yeah, I can see this being grounds for firing. I'm not really in a position to say, it's not like I was there or anything, but if she was willing to outright expel students based solely on homosexuality, that's out of line. I can see her getting after students for public displays of affection in general, but if it's just the gay kids in particular, that's not okay.

Alright, I just read the full article. It sounds like there are multiple instances of her pushing private beliefs on public-school students. If she wants to be the principal of a religiously-affiliated institution, that's her choice. Further, if she wants to be public about her faith, that's also her choice. However, a line is crossed when you require others to adhere to your beliefs as well. If I was her superintendent... Well, yeah, I think I'd probably have to fire her, that isn't okay.

[I Refute Berkeley Thus]

Nope. He's right. How is sending our children on the path to hell an appropriate course of action for schools?

[Haha Coffee]

If it's a Public school then sure fire him.

Private then no.

[GunsmithKitten]

It's like she's DARING an army of attorneys to swamp her like Jaws on a passing swimmer.

Unless this is a religious school to begin with, the moment she tries to follow through on it she'll feel the legal wrath so hard she'll regret ever getting into the education field.

[SelfMadeOrphan]

Discrimination and hate speech isn't protected by free speech. So, yes, this is grounds for her being fired.

[bearcatthorin]

Unless it's a private school, fire her! Public displays of affection, regardless of sexual orientation, are often discouraged but this is just way over the line.

[Blood Valkyrie]

What a ******** b***h. If she said that at my child's school (if I had a child), I'd take my kid out of the school, and make sure everyone in the community knew why I did it.

[deadmanjay]

So she could get in trouble for promoting a specific religion on school grounds and for attacking gay people....So yes, fire the woman and be done with it. She will just end up on a news station or something making lots of money for being ignant.

[Matt Pniewski]

The Irish Economy

If it's a Public school then sure fire him.

Private then no.

Essentially, that is the law.


Though I can tell you, at my school, a private, Catholic University, she'd probably get fired as well.

However, I don't think- even if we are talking about a private, religious institution- that the punishment for nonsexual same sex contact should be expulsion. The school might have a right to say "No public displays of affections" and try to keep them separated, but expulsion should be reserved for major breeches of school policy.

[deadmanjay]

Matt Pniewski

The Irish Economy

If it's a Public school then sure fire him.

Private then no.

Essentially, that is the law.


Though I can tell you, at my school, a private, Catholic University, she'd probably get fired as well.

However, I don't think- even if we are talking about a private, religious institution- that the punishment for nonsexual same sex contact should be expulsion. The school might have a right to say "No public displays of affections" and try to keep them separated, but expulsion should be reserved for major breeches of school policy.

Detention would probably be the norm in many schools. Stay after school in a study hall setting for a half hour to an hour or something similar according to others. I didn't have detentions when i went, so I don't know how boring they may or may not be.

[blackheartgirl2]

Jubilant Sunrise

Memphis Flyer's Article on Homophobic Principal

Haywood High School principal Dorothy Bond allegedly said gay students were "not on God's path" and threatened to expel them if they were caught showing public affection for same-sex students, according to reports made to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) by students. Now the ACLU of Tennessee has sent a letter to the Haywood County school district superintendent.

The full article can be found here. What is your opinion on this? Is this principal exercising her free speech by her statements, or should she be fired?

If it is a public school then yes she should be fired but in a private/religious school i think expelling kids for something like that is crazy

[Kimihiro_Watanuki]

It's a public school. The general idea is that these schools do not take sides on issues like this. For a principle to get up and say something like that should be cut and dry grounds for termination. You cannot sew seeds of hatred into your student body and then call yourself an educator.

[catspook]

SelfMadeOrphan

Discrimination and hate speech isn't protected by free speech. So, yes, this is grounds for her being fired.

Actually, the US does not have a "hate speech" exception - that's a more of a Canadian and European thing. Discrimination is another matter, but that's more about actions more than words (e.g. her threat to expel kids for same-sex PDA's and not for opposite-sex ones). The main reason that her free speech does not apply here is because she is the principal of a public school and thus is acting on not her own behalf but the state's. On her own time and on her own property she can say whatever she wants, but in a professional capacity she has to follow the laws that apply to public institutions.