A principal at a Florida high school has threatened two lesbian students with suspension for the crime of holding hands:
Some are accusing the principal of Blanche Ely High School of discrimination after two students of the same sex were nearly suspended for holding hands.
The two girls, a junior and a senior, were threatened by the school’s principal with a 10-day suspension for their public displays of affection.
The principal, Karlton Johnson, would certainly never do this to two straight students. In fact, other students in various articles have repeatedly said that the holding of hands has never been an issue at the school. But it apparently is now.
Of course, I want to be fair. It is school policy that students not hold hands. I think that aptly shows the immature mindset of the administrators. Despite what I’m sure they teach their students in sex ed courses, people cannot get pregnant via hand-to-hand contact.
But let’s say this is all just a big misunderstanding, all the other students just don’t realize how often the rules are evenly applied to all sexual orientations, and maybe this is a non-story. Except there’s another problem:
[Activists] also are upset because the principal took things one step further after calling the girls into his office.
“He outed her to her parents, and that is something that social workers will tell you and professionals who work with (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning) youth and families, it’s something you just don’t pick up the phone and say, ‘Your daughter’s a lesbian,'” Rajner.
Not only did Johnson needlessly take the two lesbian students into his office, but he called both of their parents. For one girl this was trivial. Her parents are aware of her orientation. But for the other girl, she was still in the closet, at least to her parents. It is wildly inappropriate and wholly ignorant that Johnson would go so far as to mess with her life like that. He has no standing to make such emotionally and socially important decisions for other human beings.
I just wish I could say I was stunned that someone would be such a piece of garbage.
Johnson’s email: karlton.johnson@browardschools.com
Filed under: Politics and Social, Rights | Tagged: Florida, High School, Holding Hands, Karlton Johnson, Lesbians, Pompano Beach | Leave a comment »
