Boy punished for talking about gay mom

[TXlib]

Boy punished for talking about gay mom

Monday, December 1, 2003 Posted: 10:17 PM EST (0317 GMT)

LAFAYETTE, Louisiana (AP) -- 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 alleged Monday.

Second-grader Marcus McLaurin was waiting for recess November 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."

Original Story

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Is it just me, or are the teacher and principal who did this pretty hysterical to consider 'gay' a dirty word?

[jeter]

1. I heard this story yesterday

It is horrible. Imagine having to basically say that your mothers life is wrong and not worth even talking about. I think the school totally overreacted. It would be one thing if it was promoted. Another thing entirely when a boy is answering a question from another boy about why he "has two mommies."

[TXlib]

3. I think the family should sue

Not the school, as that would only punish everybody.

But I think they should sue living shit out of the teacher and principal.

[SOteric]

2. It's not just you.

Only I'd replace the word 'hysterical' with the word 'reprehensible.'

[NewGuy]

4. The school ends up stuck in the middle on these

Religious right parents don't want their second graders introduced to the gay lifestyle and gay family members do not want to be ostracized. The schools best bet is to ignore any but directly harmful behavior. Of course this could lead to discipline problems.

Teaching in the school system is one of the toughest things to do and the pay stinks.

[geniph]

5. This sucks

This is right up there with telling a kid he's somehow evil or defective because his parents are divorced, or interracial. Imagine the uproar if the school had reacted this way to him telling another child that he was biracial - if they'd told him that was a bad word. Incomprehensible? I'll bet it did happen 20 years ago. My sincere hope is that in 20 more years, we'll lose the hysteria over same-sex parents, too.

Poor kid. I know how he feels - I was raised by gay women, and that was 40 years ago. Of course, as far as I knew, and as far as anyone else knew, my mother and her girlfriend were "roommates." But I was still made to feel different, and somehow lesser, because I was the only kid in my class (up until high school) whose parents were divorced. The only other kids who didn't have a dad were the ones whose moms were widows.

It's the stupidest of overreactions. If they're worried about the local fundies freaking out, that's absurd; telling another kid that your mother lives with another woman is not in any way "promoting" any kind of lifestyle, any more than saying that your dad is Hispanic is "promoting" being a Latino.