Young GAY Student DEFENDS TEACHER At School Board Meeting

[Segami]

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" We all have teachers that make a lasting impression on us. It appears as if young Ann Arbor student Graeme Taylor has already found his.


The 14-year-old, who is openly gay, bravely stood up for his teacher, Jay McDowell at a recent school board meeting. McDowell was disciplined on October 20 for removing two students who had made anti-gay remarks in class. During his speech in support of his teacher, Taylor revealed his problems with bullying and a suicide attempt at the age of 9.

Watch young Taylor's inspiring and mature speech, AFTER THE JUMP.



<http://www.towleroad.com/2010/11/watch-young-gay-student-defends-teacher-at-school-board-meeting.html>

[Divine Discontent]

1. to say "wonderful young man" is an understatement - such poise and confidence speaking to the adults

he didn't even seem remotely nervous - and spoke with purpose, and confidence rarely seen in any speaker. more power to him, and I hope he stays safe and a strong voice for equality for many years to come!

WTG, Graeme! :headbang:

[Smarmie Doofus]

3. Astonishing , no? He speaks better than I do, and I'm.....

.... over 13.

[Divine Discontent]

8. I know, right?! ha He should go very far, in helping others, with that demeanor.

[Segami]

17. He needs to go before Congress and teach them ALL some real compassion.

[Smarmie Doofus]

2. Wow. That friggin' kid's a keeper.

And so, it would appear, is the teacher.

[Divine Discontent]

4. oh, yeah, forgot about that awesome teacher that did something about the nasty comments in class,

not all would do that! :bounce:

[ncrainbowgrrl]

5. bravo, young man (nt)

[Blue_Tires]

6. why would the teacher be reprimanded for removing those two students?

[Divine Discontent]

9. sadly, in many schools, bullying is fully permitted, I am SO glad that such a well-spoken youth,

let them hear how he felt about the decision to reprimand the teacher!

[leftstreet]

7. Wow

Hard to imagine he's only 14

K&R

[Gabi Hayes]

10. here's hoping there's no annoying teachers' union to come the defense of this

first amendment stomper-onner!

[EFerrari]

11. When I click on the image

all I get is the same image in another window. I wonder if AdBlock is messing it up.

[kas125]

12. I use AdBlock and I got the video when I refreshed the page. n/t

[EFerrari]

20. No dice. Thanks for the suggestion, though!

:)

[Tx4obama]

21. Don't click on the image, click on the video which is down under the image after the jump. n/t

[Jamastiene]

76. I had the same problem.

I refreshed the page (Control + R) and waited a little longer. Below the top picture and the writing below it, that is where the video is.

If you try clicking the picture at the top, it will make the page stop loading and just take you to the picture. The actual video is below the picture at the top.

[EFerrari]

77. It's probably me because it's still not working.

But, Hissyspit has it up in the video forum now. Thanks for trying!

[Jamastiene]

78. You are quite welcome. :) n/t

[xfundy]

13. Good kid.

Even though I KNEW, at 14, that I was gay, everything I researched about it, and I researched a LOT (this was in the 70s) told me that it was "just a phase" and that I would "grow out of it." Finally, at age 18, I had to admit to myself that I wasn't "growing out of it."

Of course I considered suicide; I say that not as a "shocker," but because that seemed the only option other than accepting myself (and lying and/or getting into a loveless marriage, and I didn't want to hurt a woman by doing that) at the time.

Progress. I do have faith in today's young people. I even saw a kid going through vinyl albums at an estate sale today. I wanted to say something about "those who remember the past," but didn't. Captain Kirk was right about not disturbing a future culture.

[kenny blankenship]

14. Brave young man!

I know I couldn't do that at his age.

[Kerrytravelers]

15. What an amazing kid. Wow!

And why the hell is the teacher being disciplined and not the kids with the hate speech in class?!?!?

[mzteris]

16. wtf was the teacher being disciplined for

stopping bullying???

[Smarmie Doofus]

22. Exactly. n/t

[xchrom]

18. Awesome mr Graeme Taylor. Just awesome. Nt

[Odin2005]

19. You go, kid!

:D

[tavalon]

23. Oh, my God, that young man is amazing

I hope he chooses to be an activist. He's already taken his first step. Damn, that was inspiring.

[Starry Messenger]

24. k&r

[proud2BlibKansan]

25. Awesome!

[dsc]

26. great

What a brave young man. Honestly, at his age, no way no how would I have been able to do that. I hope that teacher was supported by that school board.

[dickthegrouch]

27. What was the result?

Did this amazing speech make a difference? I *really* hope so, because such courage and self assurance deserves success.

[marmar]

28. Cool....but it's a little confusing. It says he's an Ann Arbor student.....

...... but the's speaking at a Howell board meeting, so I presume his teacher is in the Howell district?

[dsc]

29. no his dad is in the Howell district

his dad works at the same school as the suspened teacher.

[marmar]

30. Thanx....I must have read it too quickly.

Ann Arbor and Howell aren't far apart geographically, but a zillion miles away sociopolitically.

[dsc]

31. It was at the beginning of the video

and often times teachers live in districts poorer than those they teach in since they can't afford the wealthier district.

[marmar]

32. True, but in this case, Ann Arbor is more expensive than Howell.

nt

[dsc]

33. well he might have been scared to send his kid to those schools

given that a teacher got disciplined for standing up for a gay kid, he may well have wondered what would happen to his kid.

[knitter4democracy]

47. I would--Howell's not exactly a welcoming place.

Known for being the home of a KKK grandmaster and worse, it's not got a reputation for being a safe place for the Other.

[dsc]

51. I am glad that kid isn't going there then

if he was so badly abused in Ann Arbor that he wanted to kill himself one can only wonder what it would have been like in the other district.

[etherealtruth]

49. Frequently the opposite in Michigan

Ann Arbor is far wealthier than Howell ...but Howell has fairly affluent areas

[PeaceNikki]

34. Good for him!

:)

[BrklynLiberal]

35. Wow. How does someone get to be so eloquent and poised at cush an early age!!!???

His parents should be very, very proud of him.

[Guilded Lilly]

37. The entire community should be very very proud of him :)

Brave, well-spoken...and right!

[ccharles000]

36. k/r

[felix_numinous]

38. K&R

[Faygo Kid]

39. Wow. He could be my grandson. In fact, I wish he was.

What a fine young man. He has a bright future in front of him, but it's up to us to assure he has every opportunity to reach his potential without his rights being infringed upon.

[theHandpuppet]

40. Wow

What an amazing an inspiring young man.

[JackDragna]

41. Kudos to the teacher and student.

It's about time people put a stop to this crap.

[laughingliberal]

42. K & R nt

[Violet_Crumble]

43. He was doing great defending his teacher until he made the Holocaust comparison..

That was totally out of line..

[dsc]

45. admittedly he went a bit far there

since his numbers were way off. But it should be noted that gays were exterminated during the Holocost just like Jews were so he wasn't taking another group's history he was off on the numbers though.

[Violet_Crumble]

50. It marred an otherwise great speech, but I've seen adults trot out Holocaust comparisons before...

He's a 14 year old kid, so when he's a bit older, I'm guessing he wouldn't do Holocaust comparisons. Whether it's a kid like him or a pro-Palestinian supporter doing it, making Holocaust comparisons is ugly and doesn't help whatever the cause is that's using it. And having studied the Holocaust at uni, while there were many gay victims, there were also Arab, Soviet, Roma, the disabled and many other groups who were victims, but that doesn't give any of those groups the right to make Holocaust comparisons, imo...

[boppers]

71. So, would you be offended by Jews making Holocaust comparisons?

Is it *any* comparison that bothers you?

Would you prefer a comparison to Indian Removal, or would you be bothered by that?

[boppers]

72. nvm, you answered downthread that Jews making the comparison bothers you.

Sorry 'bout that.

[unapatriciated]

55. They were not only exterminated, they were tortured.

http://www.wordiq.com/definition/History_of_Gays_during_the_Holocaust

http://rictornorton.co.uk/nazi.htm

[Violet_Crumble]

63. So were many other groups. That doesn't give any group the right to make Holocaust comparisons...

Do you think it's acceptable to make Holocaust comparisons?

[dbmk]

46. 14 - I'll cut him some slack. n/t

[rtassi]

48. The origin of the word is Middle English/Latin ..

I believe he is entitled to use that word as its definition existed prior to, and has not been retired since the Nazi slaughter of Jews ... The boy is 14, and clearly thinks and reasons in broader terms! There was nothing "totally out of line" with his use of the word at all ... and only someone looking for offense would make such an assertion IMO ...

[Violet_Crumble]

52. He was making reference to the Holocaust...

It's the reference to 6 million that was the giveaway. Or do you think that was that just a coincedence?

I've got no problems admitting I find Holocaust comparisons offensive. Many people do. So, do you object to people who make Holocaust comparisons when it comes to what Israel is doing to the Palestinians? If you do, why is it okay to make Holocaust comparisons in one case but not the other?

[Raster]

56. Guess what? The Holocaust wasn't just about Jews. While Jews by far constitute the largest group

victimized by the Nazis, others, as you have mentioned, were also tortured and murdered. And these did include gay men and women: the people of the pink triangle.

[Violet_Crumble]

61. I'm not sure why yr repeating back at me basically what I replied to the other person with n/t

[unapatriciated]

57. His numbers might not be as off as you think.

http://www.womensenews.org/story/lesbian-transgender/010628/amnesty-reports-abuse-lesbians-gays-worldwide

We don't know how many have been murdered simply because of their sexual orientation. Amnesty International and other organization are still compiling the data.

http://www.gendercide.org/case.html
Case Studies Under Construction
Current and Historical Gendercides
Institutional Case Studies
Dowry Killings and Widow-Burning (Sati)
The Underground Economy
Vigilante Killings
Violence Against Gay Men


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/12/gay-mens-bodies-desecrate_n_533916.html

— Even death cannot stop the violence against gays in this corner of the world any more.

Madieye Diallo's body had only been in the ground for a few hours when the mob descended on the weedy cemetery with shovels. They yanked out the corpse, spit on its torso, dragged it away and dumped it in front of the home of his elderly parents.

The scene of May 2, 2009 was filmed on a cell phone and the video sold at the market. It passed from phone to phone, sowing panic among gay men who say they now feel like hunted animals.

"I locked myself inside my room and didn't come out for days," says a 31-year-old gay friend of Diallo's who is ill with HIV. "I'm afraid of what will happen to me after I die. Will my parents be able to bury me?"

[Violet_Crumble]

62. Then why would someone make a guesstimate of 6 million while referring to a Holocaust?

They're making a Holocaust comparison, that's why.

btw, that gendercide site appears to be reporting on abuse on people based on gender.

[unapatriciated]

59. I agree with Raster-please see links in post 55

We have not complied all the data regarding genocide against GLBT's world wide.

[Violet_Crumble]

64. Well, seeing how Raster was agreeing with what I'd already said, I'm not sure what yr agreeing with.

I pointed out that many different groups of people were victims of the Nazis, but nothing even comes close to the slaughter of 6 million Jews, and to make such comparisons are just as ridiculous as when supporters of the Palestinians compare what's happening to them or falsely claiming genocide.


Here's the definition of genocide from a site that contains a lot of information about genocide.

'The crime of genocide is defined in international law in the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide.

"Article II: In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.'

http://www.genocidewatch.org/aboutgenocide/whatisit.html

[RaleighNCDUer]

65. "The Holocaust" killed 12 million, not six million.

Half of those were Jews, where you come up with your six million. Do you contend the other six million exterminated are not worthy of inclusion in The Holocaust? Why is it okay to make Holocaust comparisons to your six million but not the other?

(BTW, 'your six million' is also MY six million - but I don't disregard the rest).

edit for typo

[Violet_Crumble]

66. I never said it didn't. I said the Jewish victims made up 6 million...

Which was the same number given in the speech in the OP. That's what I was talking about. Pointing out that Holocaust comparisons are wrong, no matter who's doing them or for what cause, doesn't mean I'm disregarding any victims of the Holocaust, and I'm lost as to why you'd come out with something like that...

[RaleighNCDUer]

68. You're lost? You are so busy protecting what you consider your turf

that you are missing the big picture.

[Violet_Crumble]

69. What do you mean by my turf?

No, I'm totally lost as to why you'd say something like you did when I've never given any indication at all that I disregard any victims of the Holocaust. Nor am I sure what 'big picture' leads to that sort of weird assumption. A kid giving a speech mentions the word holocaust and 6 million in the same breath. 6 million Jews were slaughtered in the Holocaust, so it's not like the kid's just pulled a random number out of the air. Whether he meant to or not he made a Holocaust comparison. Pointing that out (and I suspect you've ignored the bit where I told someone else I studied the Holocaust in uni) doesn't mean that I'm disregarding the other 6 million victims anymore than when Holocaust scholars write about the Final Solution, which was after all, a policy aimed solely at European Jews.

I hope that clears up any misunderstandings...

[RaleighNCDUer]

70. Again, your assumptions, your turf. YOUR holocaust = six million.

So when he says six million, you automatically read more into it.

The big picture is there IS a worldwide holocaust against gays. A fourteen year old kid speaking in public, no matter how composed he may look, WAS nervous and he obviously was speaking extemporaneously. Perhaps he meant to say 'a' million rather than 'six' million - I don't know. Is a million any LESS of a fucking holocaust?

It is a truly bizarre mindset that thinks that any reference to 'holocaust' that doesn't mention our people somehow dimkinishes what happened.

"Never again" means justice, not just us.

[Violet_Crumble]

74. Yr the one who's making a whole lot of bizarre assumptions...

No, six million isn't just some random number I pulled out of the air. Please read the post yr replying to where I explain that. Also, are you unaware of the difference between the word 'holocaust' and the Holocaust that happened in Europe? If that reference to 6 million hadn't been made, then it would have been clear it was being used in the general way and there wasn't a comparison being made to the big H Holocaust. As I said in an earlier post, he's 14. I give him some leeway which I don't give to adults who run round comparing things to the Holocaust because he's very young, nervous, and probably wouldn't do it again anyway. What annoys me is people who don't see any problem in making Holocaust comparisons....

'Our people'? For the record, I don't have any people that were involved in the Holocaust.

Y'know, it's getting a bit irritating after telling you that I most definately do not disregard the other 6 million victims of the Holocaust and explaining why to see you return and just continue behaving as though I hadn't said a thing. Why is it so difficult to cope with me saying that his speech was brilliant and was only marred by that bit where he did the Holocaust comparison?

[boppers]

73. FWIW, it really depends on who counts, and what their criteria are.

"The Holocaust (from the Greek ὁλόκαυστος holókaustos: hólos, "whole" and kaustós, "burnt"),<2> also known as The Shoah (Hebrew: השואה, HaShoah, "calamity"; Yiddish: חורבן, Churben or Hurban,<3> from the Hebrew for "destruction"), was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored extermination by Nazi Germany.<4> Two-thirds of the population of nine million Jews who had resided in Europe before the Holocaust were killed.<5>

Some scholars maintain that the definition of the Holocaust should also include the Nazis' systematic murder of millions of people in other groups, including Romani, Soviet prisoners of war, Polish and Soviet civilians, homosexuals, people with disabilities, Jehovah's Witnesses and other political and religious opponents, which occurred irrespective of whether they were of German or non-German ethnic origin.<6> By this definition, the total number of Holocaust victims would be between 11 million and 17 million people.<7>" (bolding added)

From:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Holocaust

It took us roughly three years of debate on wikipedia to come up with two lede paragraphs that would keep the (near daily) arguments down, because scholars vary in methods and judgments on what numbers are valid, and what counts as a Holocaust victim.

[JNelson6563]

44. I predict a bright future for this young man.

Bravo! :applause:

[PSzymeczek]

53. He is an amazing

and eloquent young man. Cheers to him!

[Skittles]

54. that is one impressive youngster

kudos to his teacher, too

K&R

[blaze]

58. Pretty impressive

I couldn't be that composed at 56!!!

Well done, Graeme. Thank you for speaking up!

[tpsbmam]

60. What a truly remarkable young man. Bravo to him, his parents and the teacher!

Huge K & R!

[James48]

67. There are two sides to this story.

The original issue dealt with how the teacher responded to an issue in his classroom.

Here is the link to the Administration's discipline of the teacher:

http://www.whmi.com/news/attachment/11143/1

It's a PDF file.

The school is holding a community open house tomorrow night in order to allow people a chance to air their views.

[boppers]

75. A T-shirt and belt buckle?

What did the shirt and buckle say?

Furthermore, why should students be allowed to express a message, but the teachers cannot? I'm pretty sure the last time the supreme court ruled on students, they did NOT have unlimited first amendment rights in a classroom, or even outside of it.