Teaching about intolerance in my high school Ethics class in a small town in Oklahoma lead to a real life lesson for my students when I was forced to resign for insubordination.

Teaching

about intolerance in my high school Ethics class in a small town in

Oklahoma lead to a real life lesson for my students when I was forced

to resign for insubordination. Conflicts had escalated between the superintendent

of schools, my students and me over his biased decision to suspend my

class because I was teaching The Laramie Project.

I

had sought and received approval from the principal to teach the tragic

story of Matthew Shepard, a gay young man brutally murdered in Laramie,

Wyoming by two young men who "hated" gay people. I chose The

Laramie Project because of its prevailing themes of intolerance

and hate crimes. The students and I studied the criminal investigation

and examined how different citizens of Laramie responded when they learned

Matthew’s murderers – Aaron "A.J." McKinney and Russell Henderson –

were life-long residents of the rural Wyoming community. One thing is

for sure, I did not use The Laramie Project to teach about gay

rights or to teach a unit on gay lifestyles, as the superintendent Mr.

Turlington has alleged. It is not necessary to teach about gay lifestyles

to my students’ generation. Several students have gay family members;

some of the family members have been in long-term, same-sex relationships.

In

truth, I was challenging them to examine where and how the two young

men – McKinney and Henderson – learned to hate; because hate, like

love, is learned behavior. I wanted them to understand where the lessons

of hate and intolerance are typically learned: parents, teachers, members

of the community, even in churches. I had hoped that by using The

Laramie Project each student would examine their prejudices and

form healthier practices of tolerance, compassion and advocacy.

The

irony is that the students learned the lesson well, but not inside the

walls of a Grandfield High School classroom. They had their classroom

moved into the real world where they have experienced the real life

lessons of intolerance; witnessed acts promoted by homophobic fears

and ideology and yes, encountered hatred. Even in this small town of

1,100 people, it’s not all black and white. As one local resident

told Hunter Stuart, a video journalist, "We don’t live in the fifties

anymore." Another told him, "I know people who are gay. I don’t

like what they do, but I treat them with respect."

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But as one thing led to another,

I asked a member of the school board to get involved. I was accused

of insubordination by Superintendent Turlington and felt I had no alternative

but to accept the superintendent’s agreement of resignation. As the

editor of the local newspaper admonished in an editorial "it was wrong

to question the decisions of your superiors."

I

am humbled by the fact that people across the country find the story

of my students and me important. The media has become our courtroom.

The more people advocate for us against the injustices we have experienced,

the better I feel about losing my job. No matter where we live or go

to school we need to promote attitudes of compassion and tolerance for

all students, all people – gay or straight. I would be naïve to think

what has happened to my students and me is an isolated incident. Unfortunately,

those in charge of the school just don’t get it. I know any gay student

at Grandfield High School has been taught a dubious lesson. They have

learned they better keep quiet until they are old enough to leave town.