Love Yourself Pt. 2

Alt. Title: Outrage

For those who haven't yet read the first post, I suggest you start there.  It will make this one make more sense.

Okay.  So are we on the same page now?  Great.

I caught this story being circulated by the HRC yesterday and while still available, I signed their petition.  It's a story about a principal who was telling students that if they were gay they were going to hell and if they were pregnant their lives were over.  There is a joke in there about what if they were gay and pregnant, but I will resist because this is a serious subject. 

The good news is that by the time I got around to writing this post, the principal has resigned. 

But the story is not over, nor should it be, I hope. 

The reason I was so outraged, in particular, about this story is that I could see my friend 20+ years ago sitting in the front row of that assembly.  I could see the kids in her class using their principal's hate speech as an excuse and a reason to torment her.  And if I could go back to her high school and beat up the people who harassed her then, I would.  But I can't. 

It is NOT enough that the principal has resigned and is no longer there.  And I don't even want to know about where she might land next.  I want this story to be more public so that she is notorious and no school will hire her to be in a position of influence over our youth.  I don't want this to recur.  Haven't we learned this from the scandals of the Catholic church who only removed a problem priest to simply place him in a new community?

It is not enough that the "The Haywood County Board of Education acknowledges its student body’s right to free speech. Further, the Haywood County Board of Education strives to provide an atmosphere of tolerance and diversity while maintaining high academic standards."  The damage is done.  We need to go back into that school and undo the damage. 

Like when any crisis happens at a school - any form of violence, for this was emotionally violent - we need to work with the students to let them know that this was wrong. 

So that when they hit their forties and finally struggle their way back out of the closet again, they won't wonder if this thing that makes them different is a cancer.  And this is if they are lucky enough to hit their forties...