High School Teacher Outs Her Students
Miss Beasley, a high school Principal in Memphis, Tennessee has been accused of outing two of her students. She asked her staff to pull together a list of pupils who were dating each other, in an attempt to curb public displays of affection on campus.
Beasley then went and posted that list up on a wall in her office. The list was in view of teachers and students, and it resulted in two gay students being picked on.
To make matters worse, Beasley went one step further and called the mother of one of the gay students. The child was not out to his family yet, yet Beasley told her that her son wasn’t able to go on an excursion to New Orleans because he would shame the school by engaging in homosexual affection. The mother told media that in addition to outing her son, Beasley also expressed distaste for homosexuality.
Miss Beasley is facing legal action from the American Civil Liberties Union if she’s not reprimanded for her actions. However, the Memphis City Schools Board of Education are standing by Beasley’s actions. The board say that they’d received a number of complaints from staff, saying that some students were engaged in “explicit sexual behaviour in public view”.
Of course ‘explicit sexual behaviour’ is in the eye of the beholder. Considering a gay kiss sparked a 911 call in Alabama last week, it wouldn’t be surprising if the behaviour has been totally blown out of proportion.
The board have issued a statement saying, “Because we [are an accelerated learning school] we have to carefully monitor the activities of our students. We are at all times pro-active in assuring that our students are provided a safe, nurturing and disciplined learning climate. Unfortunately, we [have] received numerous complaints from LeMoyne-Owen College faculty and staff that some of our student couples were involved in explicit sexual behaviour in public view on the college campus.
“In light of this information from LeMoyne-Owen faculty and staff, the principal of Hollis F. Price made several general announcements to the student body that this behaviour would not be tolerated. Regrettably, the improper behaviour continued. Therefore, the principal felt it appropriate to notify the parents of those children she knew to be involved romantically…”
The board are denying that Beasley outed the student to his mother. They also affirm that the list wasn’t posted publicly.
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caloanwalker
said on the 7th May, 2008