Boy Punished for Talking About Gay Mom

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Boy Punished for Talking About Gay Mom

LAFAYETTE, La. - A 7-year-old boy was scolded and forced to write "I will never use the word `gay' in school again" after he told a classmate about his lesbian mother, the American Civil Liberties Union (news - web sites) alleged Monday.

Second-grader Marcus McLaurin was waiting for recess Nov. 11 at Ernest Gaullet Elementary School when a classmate asked about Marcus' mother and father, the ACLU said in a complaint.


Marcus responded he had two mothers because his mother is gay. When the other child asked for explanation, Marcus told him: "Gay is when a girl likes another girl," according to the complaint.


A teacher who heard the remark scolded Marcus, telling him "gay" was a "bad word" and sending him to the principal's office. The following week, Marcus had to come to school early and repeatedly write: "I will never use the word `gay' in school again."


A phone message left for Lafayette Parish schools superintendent James Easton was not immediately returned.


The ACLU is demanding the case be removed from Marcus' file and that the school apologize to the boy and his mother, Sharon Huff.


"I was concerned when the assistant principal called and told me my son had said a word so bad that he didn't want to repeat it over the phone," Huff said. "But that was nothing compared to the shock I felt when my little boy came home and told me that his teacher had told him his family is a dirty word."


Here is the link.
 
*thud* I cant believe what they did to little boy that say "GAY" is bad word. :nono: GAY is not bad word, is it??
 
mizz deaf NO ITS NOT!, those teachers/princpals are just SOO CLOSED MINDED that they think its so bad for anything even drugs to them( in my opioion if that was also the idea) is a bad word when it comes to kids thier age, as far as im concerned, THAT mother was right to file a complaint abt that, and for the concept to tell a 2nd grader his family is a bad word, its really SAD, and worse of all can be tramuatizing ALL the kid was doing was explaining what it means and by all means he wasn t giving anyone harm by explaining that its just plain wrong i hope the mother removes the kid from that school and finds another school thats open and not disrespecting and closed minded!
 
this is the most RIDICULOUS thing ever heard and MizzDeaf had shown me the article earlier and i was :shock: and thought this is too extreme and i dont consider "gay" being a bad word at all
 
:roll: What's up with closed mind people???? The teachers are supposed to edcate those kids not involve in their personal lives!!!!! And I don't consider Gay is a bad word at all. I hope the boy gets transferred to a different school and be in good enviorment!!!!
 
WildKaTReSS said:
:roll: What's up with closed mind people???? The teachers are supposed to edcate those kids not involve in their personal lives!!!!! And I don't consider Gay is a bad word at all. I hope the boy gets transferred to a different school and be in good enviorment!!!!
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so totally :werd: Wildkatress!! there are some idiots out there that are still quite conservative :roll:
 
Teacher/principal are narrow minded. The boy should not get punished for saying "gay" word to other student. Oh, please!!
 
Those people are pathetic! They are just basically close-minded, they oughta accept how the world are like. This world basically's fallin apart so why limit on people's talking. The boy has his own freedom right of speech, and he shouldn't be limited from talkin abt it. Felt sorry for the boy who tried to speak up for himself.
 
Whoa.... thats out of line... talking about parents that are gay let alone their own parents.... they do have the right to talk about it.
 
That's preposterous! That's a setback in all aspects of respecting and recognising the community of gays and lesbians. I sure hope that school will not repeat that stupid mistake and become more open-minded and tolerancy.
 
Oh my gosh, that's a bit too extreme. Makes me wonder about my sister and her wife's children, if they talk about them at the school???
 
since i have already posted on this topic in another forum, i am going to save myself some typing by simply copy/pasting my sentiments here, as they have not changed

once again, we dont have all the FACTS. in fact, we dont have any facts. All we have here is some second-hand information from a lesbian mother with her own agenda.
How do we know that this is how the situation actually transpired? How do we know whether or not the child wasnt actually calling another child "gay" to encite a fight? We havent even heard the teachers side of the story and yet we are jumping to conclusions. Shame on us, and shame on the media!
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Well, it seems we now have both sides of the story. I was watching CNN this morning and the school said that they did not discipline the child for using the word "gay", but for discussing sexual issues at school. I happen to agree with their stance on the issue. I wouldn't want a child informing my child about any sexual issues, especially at such a young age. I feel that is my place as a parent. I dont even want the schools teaching my young child about sexual issues. I reserve that right as a parent. I do not feel that the punishment was overly harsh. I bet this kid will think before he speaks next time, and it will hopefully teach others the same lesson. I firmly believe that the school would have punished any child for discussing heterosexual sex as well. I do not feel they were discriminatory based on the mothers sexual preference. If the child wants to discuss such matters, school is NOT the place!
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As I said before, she is a lesbian with her own agenda, and her agenda obviously wasnt the emotional welfare of her child!
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Oh, and if the mother had ANY decency, she would have taught her son how to deal with questions about her sexuality... if another child asks "what is gay?" a good response could be "ask your mom" and that way the parent of the child could have the opportunity to inform their child with the amount of information they feel is appropriate
Shame on this mother for putting her child in this position!
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The teachers are supposed to edcate those kids not involve in their personal lives!!!!!
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If you dont want the teachers involved in personal lives, then keep the lives personal and not at school!

The boy has his own freedom right of speech, and he shouldn't be limited from talkin abt it.
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Last I checked, they dont teach sex ed. in second grade. This childs freedom ends where it limits my ability to raise my child in a manner that I see fit.
 
There's another news article:
Louisiana school punishes 7-year-old for talking about lesbian mother

LAFAYETTE -- A second-grader was scolded and forced to write "I will never use the word 'gay' in school again'' after he told a classmate about his lesbian mother, the American Civil Liberties Union alleged Monday.

According to the ACLU, which filed a complaint with the Lafayette Parish School Board, 7-year-old Marcus McLaurin was waiting in line to go to recess Nov. 11 at Ernest Gaullet Elementary School when a classmate asked him about his mother and father.

McLaurin responded that he had two mothers because his mother is gay. When the other child asked for explanation, McLaurin told him: "Gay is when a girl likes another girl,'' according to the complaint.

A teacher, overhearing the remark, scolded McLaurin, telling him "gay'' is a "bad word'' and sending him to the principal's office. The following week, the school required the boy to attend a behavioral clinic at 6:45 a.m., where he was forced to repeatedly write "I will never use the word `gay' in school again,'' the civil liberties group said.

A phone message left for James Easton, superintendent of Lafayette Parish schools, was not immediately returned Monday.

The ACLU claims that McLaurin's constitutional rights were violated by the school district.

"At the ACLU we often deal with schools that mistreat gay children and children who have gay parents, but this is beyond the pale,'' said Ken Choe, an attorney for the ACLU Lesbian and Gay Rights Project.

Joe Cook, executive director of the ACLU in Louisiana said the children and gay and lesbian parents ``have the same right as any other children to talk about their families.''

Although no suit has been filed, the ACLU demanded that the school remove all mention of the case from McLaurin's disciplinary record and apologize to the boy and his mother.

"I was concerned when the assistant principal called and told me my son had said a word so bad that he didn't want to repeat it over the phone,'' said the boy's mother, Sharon Huff. "But that was nothing compared to the shock I felt when my little boy came home and told me that his teacher had told him his family is a dirty word.''
 
once again, we dont have all the FACTS. in fact, we dont have any facts. All we have here is some second-hand information from a lesbian mother with her own agenda.
How do we know that this is how the situation actually transpired? How do we know whether or not the child wasnt actually calling another child "gay" to encite a fight? We havent even heard the teachers side of the story and yet we are jumping to conclusions. Shame on us, and shame on the media!
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Eve, I do respectfully disagree with you about casting shame on others who have only voiced their opinions in this thread and other posts. Still, I dont believe we should stop talking about this thing out in the open...... I do believe ideas will evolve, but we gotta start somewhere else.

It's not secondhand information from a lesbian mother with her own political agenda anymore. Where did politics come into question for you? More people are involved now. I do think this just roots out an old bias against gay people and the values they hold dearly. This has nothing to do with sex. ACLU has done an investigation and agrees that the punishment was roadkill. Now I think resolutions will be taken next, to prevent this incident from occurring again.

There is no note of another child complaining that this child was looking for a fight. Otherwise that child would have stepped forth by now. Or other witnesses. It was recess, and many kids and even a teacher were around. Did the teacher say the child was very biligerent? No, just being plain nasty with the VERY mention of word, "gay." I have taken that into consideration as a basis of my old bias theory.

Eve said:
This childs freedom ends where it limits my ability to raise my child in a manner that I see fit.
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Can you please elaborate that, Eve?
 
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“Of course we believe that parents should be the ones who talk with small children about things like sex, but Marcus McLaurin’s school seems to think that he was talking about sex when all he was talking about was his two mothers,” said Joe Cook, Executive Director of the ACLU of Louisiana. “The fact is that there are children of lesbian and gay parents in schools throughout Louisiana, and those children have the same right as any other children to talk about their families.”

ACLU's position and release letter with consitutional sources to the princpal of that school: http://www.aclu.org/LesbianGayRights/LesbianGayRights.cfm?ID=14481&c=104

I think a TV movie will be made from this one day.... :)
 
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Eve
This childs freedom ends where it limits my ability to raise my child in a manner that I see fit.
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Can you please elaborate that, Eve?
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Minors are the only class of persons whose rights may be disabled without a need to justify the disablement as arising from the need to resolve a conflict with the rights of others, either through statute or due process. The disablement consists of the assignment of a power to supervise the exercise of the rights under the headings of "liberty" and "property" listed above to a guardian, by default the parents, who acts as agent of the State for the purpose of nurturing the minor. The disability is normally removed by statute providing for removal when a certain age, such as 18, or condition, such as marriage, is attained. The disabilities of minority can also be removed earlier by court order or, if statute allows, extended beyond the usual statutory expiration by court order in cases of incompetence. The right to vote is not included among the disabilities of minority, but is defined separately by law, so that removal of the disabilities of minority does not in itself affect having the right to vote.
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http://www.constitution.org/powright.htm
As I understand it, the ACLU is claiming that the child's constitutional rights were violated. How can this be when minors dont share those constitutional rights?
 
Why is it that the children of straight parents can freely talk about their families without any prejudice, whereas children of gay and lesbian parents are restricted in their freedom to talk about their own families? That's where I believe the injustice lies in, because the school is fostering an environment to teach the students that gay is wrong and that children of gay and lesbian parents should be ashamed of themselves or something.
 
Eve, thank you for the elaboration and the link - I understand a bit of what you are saying now. I do realize you are very concerned about your children as a mom, and giving them a good life education to the best of your abilities. This is what the law wants from an "agent" of the State. :)

As I understand this, a parent or guardian is acting as an "agent of the State for the purpose of nurturing the minor." Guardians and parents got that brave and daunting task to fulfill - but does it include the school punishing another child for telling another about his family? That is the money shot where everybody looks at it from different angles.

I wonder what Bishop Gene Robinson would say about this media mess.
 
kuifje75 said:
Why is it that the children of straight parents can freely talk about their families without any prejudice, whereas children of gay and lesbian parents are restricted in their freedom to talk about their own families? That's where I believe the injustice lies in, because the school is fostering an environment to teach the students that gay is wrong and that children of gay and lesbian parents should be ashamed of themselves or something.
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That was on my mind, also, Kootchie. People can't feel good about the kind of message that is being sent by this school in Louisana through a few news articles and interviews on TV, either. I sure don't!
 
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