You may remember the story a few months ago when a high school in Tennessee refused to allow a student to publish an article in the school newspaper about the pervasively Christian atmosphere at the school and mistreatment of atheist students. I hadn’t kept up with the situation, but it seems things have gotten worse. A few months later, a gay student had an article in the yearbook saying “It’s OK to be gay” — and all hell broke loose.
Much of the community freaked out, of course. Kids were encouraged to rip that page out of their yearbook, the student who wrote it was in fear of her life, and people even demanded a criminal investigation of the teacher who led the yearbook effort — the same teacher who sponsored and worked with the school newspaper in the earlier incident. That teacher rightly stood up for the free speech rights of those students, which got him in trouble with the administration. And they have apparently taken their revenge by transferring him to the middle school:
“I’m fairly certain they transferred me so I would quit,” he said…
The tipping point occurred late in April when the school yearbook that contained an article about a gay student was distributed. He said other teachers complained and opposition in the community began to grow.
“The administration didn’t talk to me for two weeks,” he said.
Shortly thereafter, the principal asked him to resign.
“He said I was improperly influencing my students,” Yoakley said.
Yoakley said he refused to resign and three weeks later was notified of his transfer to the middle school. The loss of the yearbook adviser position cost him $5,000, he said.
A subsequent Freedom of Information request by the Student Press Law Center revealed the pressure that the school administrators were subjected to by members of the community. A number of emails that were described as “vicious and vitriolic,” he said.
The worst part of this, to me, is that it’s entirely unsurprising. It’s so predictable that it’s banal. This is very much in line with the subject of the book I’m working on, which details how those who dare to threaten Christian hegemony, especially in schools, are almost always subjected to this kind of thing — and much worse.
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dingojack
September 11, 2012 at 1:16 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
That’s exactly what I was thinking here Ed; another chapter for ‘the Neverending Story’…
:( Dingo
Aratina Cage
September 11, 2012 at 1:20 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I’m extremely happy to see that James Yoakley refused to back down and quit. By doing so, he rightly stopped the simple act of giving a voice to LGBT people to appear shameful or wrong, which a resignation would have done. Bravo to him!
The same thing is happening to some of the FTB writers. It’s becoming a major problem in society.
Taz
September 11, 2012 at 1:57 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
If you didn’t read the post by Hemant Mehta, this part is worth noticing. It was written by the yearbook editor to a school board member who called for a criminal investigation of the teacher:
d cwilson
September 11, 2012 at 2:04 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Ms. Price sounds like an intelligent, polite, and well-spoken young woman. I can see why her fascist school board member found her so “appalling”.
Michael Heath
September 11, 2012 at 2:06 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
This high school is in Loudon County, one of the Virginia counties that makes an Obama victory in VA possible. The county went 54%/45% for Obama in 2008.
Virginia has come more into play for liberals and moderates as more educated people move to the state of Virginia, especially in this county and a few others surrounding the D.C. beltway, like Fairfax County; where their respective professional class largely works for the federal government or in related sectors.
It’s a story of some newcomers challenging and sometimes overwhelming the confederates who used to dominate the place when it was a more rural enclave; so the frustration can be rawly displayed as these old Virginia’s once again ‘lose their country’. In addition some of those professional-class newcomers are evangelicals, so the old confederates are also gaining new allies on some issues, though because they’re younger, not so much on gay rights issues.
Here’s a brief article about how this county plays in the 2012 election: http://watchdog.org/44811/44811/ . A poll on how the ’12 race stacks up in this county would be most appreciated.
John Pieret
September 11, 2012 at 2:23 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Americans United also reported on this and said:
In fact, Yoakley said that he was wary of even being seen in Lenoir City for a while and that school officials considered hiring a security detail for him during the graduation ceremonies. Instead, Yoakley chose not to attend.
Yoakley says he loves his new job at the middle school, and I have no reason to doubt that. Still, I can’t help but feel sad over this incident. Here’s a man who by all accounts was dedicated to his job and cared about his students. And this is the reward he got?
I bet the guy is glad to be out of that cesspool of bigotry and hate.
eric
September 11, 2012 at 2:32 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
This is the bit I find most ironic. From the article:
IOW, his kids succeeded beyond their wildest expectations, the school had a journalism teacher who got student articles published nationally, and the administration fired him for rocking the boat.
=8)-DX
September 11, 2012 at 2:44 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Loved how the article ended:
Oh noes! An openly cross-dressing-for-fun gay student!?! Must’ve blown there minds.
cjcolucci
September 11, 2012 at 2:51 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
He got 5 grand for being yearbook adviser?
Ben P
September 11, 2012 at 3:06 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Some, but not all, schools offer teaches extra compensation for taking on time consuming roles. Being a football or a basketball coach is one that usually brings a little extra. I could see being a yearbook advisor being a pretty big time commitment such that the position might be worth a couple grand a year.
kosk11348
September 11, 2012 at 3:18 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
A Loudon County school board member by the name of Van Shaver is actually calling for a criminal investigation focusing on Yoakle:
(bolding mine)
So a teacher who asks “Are you having any trouble at home I should know about?” or “Do you have any brothers and sisters enrolling soon?” or “Anyone watch the news last night?” should be arrested, according to Shaver, since all these questions involve a student’s private life. And how is knowing a student’s sexual orientation a violation of privacy? Does anyone serious think he would dream of censoring a teacher who discussed a straight student’s sexual orientation? Oh, that teacher mentioned Bobby and Suzie are dating now. Lock ‘em up!
Shaver sounds like a fucking lunatic.
Chiroptera
September 11, 2012 at 3:24 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
kosk11348, #11: Does anyone serious think he would dream of censoring a teacher who discussed a straight student’s sexual orientation?
I certainly suspect that in Van Shaver’s mind, a teacher advising a gay student to not be gay would be well within accepted guidelines.
yoav
September 11, 2012 at 4:09 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
And if republicans manage to get their way and kill teacher tenure and the right to unionize, the administration won’t have to try to push Yoakley to resign by transferring him and making his work environment as unpleasant as they can, there will be nothing to prevent school boards for firing a teacher for not being enough of a bigot.
eric
September 11, 2012 at 4:42 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
yoav @13 – I don’t think this is a union issue so much as it is one of administrative competence. Good managers do not throw good employees under the bus, even in at-will corporations. Then again, good managers tend to take corporate counsel advice very seriously, too – something fundie school administrators apparently do not do.
In any event, the superintendent should be reading the principal the riot act over this, teacher’s union or not.
MarkNS
September 11, 2012 at 6:44 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Thank god I’m a Canadian atheist. I never saw any of this religious bullshit when my kids were in high school.
Rip Steakface
September 11, 2012 at 8:00 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
More common than not, I’m pretty sure. My band director teaches three bands (a lower band and an upper band along with jazz band) as well as doing competitive marching band with the upper band. As a result, he gets paid quite a bit more for the insane time commitment required (playing at every home football and basketball game, four marching competitions, band camp, weekly after-school rehearsal through November… yeah).
I fully intend to pick up Ed’s book as soon as it’s out. As a young person who’s been harassed for nonbelief, even in atheist-friendly, liberal, western Washington, I hope to see some advice for what to do when such stuff occurs.
meursalt
September 11, 2012 at 9:39 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
@Michael Heath, #5
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I thought the high school was in Tennessee, not Virginia. While your insights about Virginia are interesting, I’m not sure how they’re relevant to this story ;). Keep in mind, Southern States have never been terribly original in their naming of counties.
Michael Heath
September 11, 2012 at 10:26 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
meursalt writes:
Ed’s first link refers to this school in Loudon County, which I inadvertently confused with a county in Virginia correctly spelled ‘Loudoun’ County. Thanks for the correction.
Paul Neubauer
September 12, 2012 at 7:04 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
@meursalt #17
It isn’t only southern states that aren’t “terribly original” that way. For example, Ohio and Illinois both have Champaign counties and the county seats of both are named Urbana. Indiana and Oregon both have their capitals located in Marion county.
(Yes, I do have a trivial mind.)
Paul
Ben P
September 12, 2012 at 7:26 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
The only way you understand Shaver’s comment is to remember that for a whole lot of fundies that are really really opposed to homosexuality, they somehow cannot separate the mere fact of homosexuality from the act of gay sex.*
I’m quite sure the reason Shaver can say something like this with a straight face is that he honestly equates the teacher discussing a student’s sexual orientation with the teacher having a discussion with the student about the merits of sex with men.
* – NB It’s always men, because *for some reason* lesbians don’t evoke the same disgust reaction in most of those people.
jamessweet
September 12, 2012 at 7:40 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Free speech 101 for these idiots:
Hey, go for it, it’s your yearbook. Assholes…
Not okay.
Not okay.
Alright then! We’ve got it all covered and we can go back to our regularly scheduled programming, right? No? Oh damn..
dingojack
September 12, 2012 at 7:41 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
It’s interesting, Ben, you brought that up. I read an article in the New Scientist recently (and I will rummage around to see if I can find it) reporting that a new study suggests that conservatives have a strong physical disgust reaction to things they dislike; liberals have a far weaker one.
It’s a brain wiring thing, which is why neither side can fully understand the other’s position.
Dingo
blf
September 12, 2012 at 8:28 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Yer perhaps thinking of this, Why gay marriage divides the world (which is an opinion piece commenting on some psychological research into differing world views). An excerpt:
democommie
September 12, 2012 at 8:54 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
“It’s a brain wiring thing, which is why neither side can fully understand the other’s position.
Dingo”
There is no fool-proof decoder ring for teh Batshit KKKrazzee.
tomp
September 12, 2012 at 9:35 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
For some reason this is reminding me of Pakistan and blasphemy laws.
Sure You Have Freedom of Religion and Speech, as Long as You are Christian and Straight « Foster Disbelief
September 12, 2012 at 2:00 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
[...] over at Dispatches from the Culture Wars, Ed Brayton gives us one more for the file marked “those who dare to threaten Christian hegemony.” You may remember the story a [...]