Teacher Opposed to Gay Marriage Could be Fired

As well you should. Think a lot less of them. But if they don't act on it, they should get the same rights as the rest of us, including advocating for their ideas and holding employment.

 

The whole idea behind the First Amendment, as currently understood (an originalism/living Constitution debate being well beyond the scope of this thread) is that abhorrent ideas get just as much protection as socially acceptable ideas. Otherwise, there's no purpose for the First Amendment.

 

Even take the First Amendment out of it for a second. Let's say this was a private school, then there'd be no Constitutional issue at all.

I'd still prefer to live in a society where personal opinions, even expressed publicly, and professional status are completely separate. I want society to respect the concept of freedom of speech as a social positive even when some ideas are distasteful to us, because we choose to, not because some amendment forces us to.

 

I've got an idea. Stop fucking worrying about other people's thoughts and actions, live your life under your values and beliefs and stop trying to dissuade anyone from doing the same.

Natural segregation will take over and all will be happy.

Fuck.

 

I like that society, too, but at least the First Amendment gives us a weapon to bring it about within the public school context.

 

If you're going to be consistent, Rick is right.

Advocating for something -- even something a majority of us find abhorrent -- isn't the same as engaging in behavior. If he admitted to illegal activity, it's a much different case.

The 1st Amendment is all about protecting unpopular speech.

I'm still curious about the "public" nature of Facebook. If you're page is only visible to your "friends", is it still a "public" pronouncement. Isn't it just a new tool to express your thoughts to a circle of friends?

I'm also not sure why more liberals are not afraid how this kind of thing could work in a more conservative town.

Couldn't the same thing happen to a teacher who criticizes gun ownership, the pro-life movement, etc.?

 

None of those is a prejudice. It's a criticism of choices people make about how they live. I realize a lot of people will come back and say so is being against gay people, but to call being gay a choice is just backward-ass lunacy.

 

Fine. But when their employment revolves around being a trusted influence on children, one has to consider the ramifications. What if a boy in this teacher's class is being
harassed by an adult male? What if he is being molested? What if the boy goes to this teacher for guidance, not knowing that this particular adult advocates what he does? These are confidential situations -- it may never come to light what direction the teacher
provides the boy.

This teacher has elected to surround himself with children. He is not a software programmer sitting at home, expressing his views. You have to use common sense in
this situation. Not only does the teacher hold questionable views regarding ILLEGAL activity, he elects to express them in a public forum. He cares so much about advocating pediophilia that he is willing to put his job on the line in order to promote it. Judgment, judgment, judgment. Scary, scary, scary.

 

Two things.

I see the point some are making that Homosexuality is behavior. But, I also agree with you that it is not a choice. It's who they are.

But, I'm also not sure that is the distinction being made here. His job is in jeopardy because his comments are unpopular.

If this guy can be fired, then teachers expressing other unpopular views -- views you might agree with -- could find their jobs in jeopardy.

 

I guess it's a qualitative judgment to me, which maybe is dangerous when dealing with the idiocy of school boards and administrators. He took after a group of kids who did nothing wrong -- and kids who, yeah, need some extra protection at school based on what normally goes on. He is also doing far more than espousing an objection to gay marriage, BTW.

It's like: "I'm getting tired of all these black kids" is a problem. "I'm getting tired of these kids with cornrows and tattoos who don't do their homework," significantly less of a problem because he's talking about their behavior and not an innate and unchangeable trait.

 

Prejudices are allowed speech, too.

 

His job is in jeopardy because his comments may or may not be considered 'hate speech' by some standard. I assume his school district is having the very same argument on the matter we're having here.

Vomit. Cesspool. Etc.

This has nothing to do with whether or not those comments are popular or unpopular.

Reading this thread, for example, it would possible to construe his comments as very popular indeed.