If Krikava complained that a black male teacher admitted to marrying a white woman and Krikava called it a "valid concern" brought by a "responsible parent", we'd correct him. No, no, Krikava. You're a douchebag.
But, of course, he's not a racist. He's a hom-o-phobe.
Actually, yeah, Aaron Krikava, you are a bigot and a homophobe. Far from being "valid", your concerns are the very definition of bigoted and homophobic. The only one who has had any political agenda in this whole fiasco is you. Stambaugh just wants to keep his job and not be discriminated against. To construe that as a "political agenda" reveals much about your bigotry, just as your actions have.
I feel sorry for your son, who will only suffer by being removed from his classroom, just to satisfy your need for political theatrics. Shame on you.
Seriously these people need to move their kid to another school, every kid at that school now knows that he is from a bigoted family and it is unlikely that he will be able to live it down. They should also probably try not acting like bigots when they get him to the new school so that he has some sort of a chance at not being ostracized. Kids with batshit crazy parents can be bullied over that as well and they might as well have painted a giant target on this kid.
Isn't that what homeschooling is for, to turn the kid into the same kind of mouthbreathing, knuckledragging, homophobic, creationist nutbag as the parent?
Of course they should pull their kid from the classroom, because they've created an impossilbe situation for their own child. Poor kid. Poor kid w/homophobic, bigoted parents. Oh sorry! I forgot you said you're NOT homophobic or bigoted even though everything you have done and said are the very definition of these two words. And I hope you're both reading these comments and are ashamed.
I'm amazed it took this long to learn the family's name. Not because I want to hurl shit at them, but because they started this one, way back with the "inappropriate attire" complaint. This was their thing from day one, and yet all the focus was on the victim.
Actually, I think it was extremely irresponsible for the Merc to print their names. They're likely to get hate mail and phone calls now. They didn't send out a blast email to the media. They sent it to other parents they know, and the Merc got a hold of the email surreptitiously.
Nice ethics, Mirk. You guys are seriously like a group of 13 year olds putting out a middle school newsletter.
Fuck this student teacher. He should have used his head and realized that it doesn't matter if a bunch of kids know if he's gay or not. There were a hundred ways to dodge that question without lying. Most adults know the skill of keeping your mouth shut.
This is just standard PC victim worship. And one of the guys in that photo is a lawyer? Sheesh.
The parents are homophobic jerks, but I agree with Blabby. Teachers and parents should model discretion to children - we don't need to tell them our business. Maybe it will show the kids that it is okay to have a personal life that stays personal.
Thank you for saying that more clearly than I could, zippero.
What drives me so crazy about this story is that it puts the primacy in the classroom on validating the adult who happens to be there. Who cares if the adult feels validated (be they gay/straight/man/woman/race/ethnicity/etc.)? The point is the kids. If you need to feel validated get a beer with a friend after work.
Obviously firing the guy was a mistake, but I don't give him a pass for not just blowing off the whole situation.
"Teacher, why aren't you married?"
"Actually most people my age are not married yet."
"I haven't found the right person."
"I'm not sure I'll get married."
"I'd rather not discuss personal stuff at school."
"None of your business."
"We need to focus on study time right now."
Right. They are not bigots or homophobes, they are just hate filled and intolerant people. They are going to stop progress by being ignorant and intolerant and making life as miserable for as many people as they can. A chance to teach and allow students to learn has been lost because these extremists and fanatics cannot deal with reality. Their child is going to be royally messed up and require years of therapy.
No Reymont, it's not really appropriate. It's not as far down the spectrum of inappropriateness as, say, dropping a string of f-bombs, but it is still on the spectrum.
These are 9 year olds. Parents can have an expectation that if they send their kid off to a public school in the morning, the teachers aren't going to take it upon themselves to broach every topic under the sun.
Please stop referring to gay people as "LGBT" and gay issues as "LGBT issues". That term is offensive to many gay people - and in particular gay people of color who had this term imposed on them - and more importantly, it is inappropriate in the context of this story, which has nothing to do with "transgendereds".
So if the kid was in a class with a female teacher who was single, they would pull him out of her class because she might have sex with him right?
Oh right, that's not going to happen because people of all genders and sexuality have MORALS> Which means it does not matter who or what you are they are going to (in this case) teach and nothing more.
First ... to keep it in context : I can't stand bigots, homophobes or bad parents. These parents are WRONG. Period. And they are damaging their child.
However .... I think if I hear the phrase " is offensive to" once more I am going to explode.
Who cares if whatever is offensive to whomever? Especially if it is not done purposely. If it's intentional, that's a bit different.
The phrase is used so much anymore that it has become virtually invalid. I'm sure that those parents think that homosexuality "is offensive to" them. Does that make their ideas any more pleasant?
I myself ... and plenty of other people, surely encounter something that " is offensive to" us at least once every single day. So what ?? Most people are mature enough to handle offensive behavior and sentiment. Although it would be a much nicer world if we could all refrain from offending each other, in reality that will never ... ever .... happen. Especially if we are all honest. If you find a way to get through life without being offended along the way, then you are surrounded by phony liars. We have come to a point where the idea of being non offensive is beginning to cripple us. People are becoming more and more phony and deceptive in their efforts to be non offensive.
Please think about this the next time you feel that something is offensive to somebody. Especially when it's unintentional.
I'd rather live in an honest world than in a non offensive world. And if you do get offended, you should feel free to keep it real and offend right back.
Does Mr. Krikava think that the mere fact that Seth is gay makes it wrong for him to tell the truth about his marital status? Apparently so. If the teacher in question were straight, would it be wrong for him to talk about his marital status?
For some ultra-conservative christians, just talking about gay people in any way other than disapprovingly (read: biblically) is controversial. They must take this point of view, because they don't want to be branded as homophobic. And yet they want the entire subject kept away from their children. They will tell you that any time you ask them.
How to explain this aversion? No, it's not an irrational religiously inspired fear, hatred, antipathy or whatever term one wishes to use. Of course not. It's because it's "controversial". Typical fundy self-referencing, truth dodging bullshit. Just because they hate all things gay doesn't mean there's any controversy. They kick up a giant fuss and then claim the subject is too controversial for kids. Brilliant.
Well, the exact opposite is true. Kids don't give a damn what orientation you are. They pick up on the social position of all those around them and reflect it, in a deep desire to belong and to be accepted. If we, adults, treat gay citizens as equals, and without fear or prejudice, then kids will too.
And that is what scares the fundies. If their kids learn in public school that gay people are normal, then the church teachings will be revealed as false, and worse. And that would get in the way of their indoctrination process. The kids might figure out that if the church is lying about this, then it's probably lying about a lot of other things. Lies are like mice: if you see one, there's probably eighteen more hiding somewhere.
Harvey Milk was right. Come out, come out, wherever you are! Every time a fundie kid has a teacher who is openly gay, and yet is still a decent, normal human being, he learns that the conservative religigous myth of gays as sick, predatory, or miserable is exploded.
Fundie churches have drawn this line in the sand. They have decided, stupidly, to pit themselves against all rational, free-thinking persons on this issue. They have placed themselves in opposition to all scientific, medical, psychiatric, psychological and anthropological knowledge on this subject. Every bit of evidence from the real world puts the lie to their philosophy. We are winning this battle, at the pace that the children grow up to be adults, having used their own eyes and ears.
Y'know Blabby: the reason I made fun of myself for calling Seth Stambaugh a "victim" is because I hate victim culture too. But that doesn't change the fact that he is indeed a victim of these shitty people who decided to fuck with his livelihood rather casually, for really stupid reasons. Exactly why you would choose to side with them is a mystery to me.
It's also a mystery why they would get to be anonymous. They saw to it that someone else's private life became a public issue, so fuck that and fuck them.
This one's for Brianna: what you're experiencing here is the understandable reaction of a lot of nice people who -for years- have been told that their language isn't inclusive enough. And now here you come, telling them that it's absurd to be so incredibly inclusive that you involve bunches of people who aren't the least involved in the topic at hand.
You're right, of course, but it also underscores how scared we are of offending each other that we engage in mush mouthed obfuscation rather than speak clearly.
If I had a kid in Seth Stambaugh's class, I'd be glad to see Aaron Krikava take his kid somewhere else. I don't want my kids exposed to that kind of homophobia, especially when the teacher is a role model for his community. I just pity the next school that has to put up with his ignorance.
"Teachers and parents should model discretion to children - we don't need to tell them our business. Maybe it will show the kids that it is okay to have a personal life that stays personal."
Fine. Then straight teachers can't talk about their spouses, put pictures on their desks, or wear wedding rings. Personal life is personal, after all.
Blabby, Blabby, Blabby. So you can't say "gay" to a 9 year old, not even in a school setting. Because??? Verboten, meine Liebe. Not in my book it isn't and never has been. I agree with other commentators that say that if talking hetero is OK, so is talking gay. Let's stop reenforcing this double standard where teh gay is such a verboten subject to mention in front of the sweet little innocent children. Some of those sweet little innocents are themselves gay. Duh! This isn't about sex, it's about affection. It's long past time we started to treat the human body and affectional preferences openly and honestly, and if that makes some parents uneasy then they can put their precious wards in repressive private religious schools instead.
Please wait...
and remember to be decent to everyone all of the time.
I just don't understand this kind of mentality. I can't fathom it. "Valid concern"? "Compromised situation"? How?
"We are not bigots, homophobes, or religious fanatics ..."
Then what's your deal?
Ugh.
But, of course, he's not a racist. He's a hom-o-phobe.
I feel sorry for your son, who will only suffer by being removed from his classroom, just to satisfy your need for political theatrics. Shame on you.
Did not seem to hurt anyone, either. Maybe it was the uniforms.
Yeah, I said it.
Nice ethics, Mirk. You guys are seriously like a group of 13 year olds putting out a middle school newsletter.
Fuck this student teacher. He should have used his head and realized that it doesn't matter if a bunch of kids know if he's gay or not. There were a hundred ways to dodge that question without lying. Most adults know the skill of keeping your mouth shut.
This is just standard PC victim worship. And one of the guys in that photo is a lawyer? Sheesh.
What drives me so crazy about this story is that it puts the primacy in the classroom on validating the adult who happens to be there. Who cares if the adult feels validated (be they gay/straight/man/woman/race/ethnicity/etc.)? The point is the kids. If you need to feel validated get a beer with a friend after work.
Obviously firing the guy was a mistake, but I don't give him a pass for not just blowing off the whole situation.
"Teacher, why aren't you married?"
"Actually most people my age are not married yet."
"I haven't found the right person."
"I'm not sure I'll get married."
"I'd rather not discuss personal stuff at school."
"None of your business."
"We need to focus on study time right now."
@econoline - That's hilarious. Excellent trolling.
These are 9 year olds. Parents can have an expectation that if they send their kid off to a public school in the morning, the teachers aren't going to take it upon themselves to broach every topic under the sun.
ALWAYS stay classy!
Oh right, that's not going to happen because people of all genders and sexuality have MORALS> Which means it does not matter who or what you are they are going to (in this case) teach and nothing more.
First ... to keep it in context : I can't stand bigots, homophobes or bad parents. These parents are WRONG. Period. And they are damaging their child.
However .... I think if I hear the phrase " is offensive to" once more I am going to explode.
Who cares if whatever is offensive to whomever? Especially if it is not done purposely. If it's intentional, that's a bit different.
The phrase is used so much anymore that it has become virtually invalid. I'm sure that those parents think that homosexuality "is offensive to" them. Does that make their ideas any more pleasant?
I myself ... and plenty of other people, surely encounter something that " is offensive to" us at least once every single day. So what ?? Most people are mature enough to handle offensive behavior and sentiment. Although it would be a much nicer world if we could all refrain from offending each other, in reality that will never ... ever .... happen. Especially if we are all honest. If you find a way to get through life without being offended along the way, then you are surrounded by phony liars. We have come to a point where the idea of being non offensive is beginning to cripple us. People are becoming more and more phony and deceptive in their efforts to be non offensive.
Please think about this the next time you feel that something is offensive to somebody. Especially when it's unintentional.
I'd rather live in an honest world than in a non offensive world. And if you do get offended, you should feel free to keep it real and offend right back.
For some ultra-conservative christians, just talking about gay people in any way other than disapprovingly (read: biblically) is controversial. They must take this point of view, because they don't want to be branded as homophobic. And yet they want the entire subject kept away from their children. They will tell you that any time you ask them.
How to explain this aversion? No, it's not an irrational religiously inspired fear, hatred, antipathy or whatever term one wishes to use. Of course not. It's because it's "controversial". Typical fundy self-referencing, truth dodging bullshit. Just because they hate all things gay doesn't mean there's any controversy. They kick up a giant fuss and then claim the subject is too controversial for kids. Brilliant.
Well, the exact opposite is true. Kids don't give a damn what orientation you are. They pick up on the social position of all those around them and reflect it, in a deep desire to belong and to be accepted. If we, adults, treat gay citizens as equals, and without fear or prejudice, then kids will too.
And that is what scares the fundies. If their kids learn in public school that gay people are normal, then the church teachings will be revealed as false, and worse. And that would get in the way of their indoctrination process. The kids might figure out that if the church is lying about this, then it's probably lying about a lot of other things. Lies are like mice: if you see one, there's probably eighteen more hiding somewhere.
Harvey Milk was right. Come out, come out, wherever you are! Every time a fundie kid has a teacher who is openly gay, and yet is still a decent, normal human being, he learns that the conservative religigous myth of gays as sick, predatory, or miserable is exploded.
Fundie churches have drawn this line in the sand. They have decided, stupidly, to pit themselves against all rational, free-thinking persons on this issue. They have placed themselves in opposition to all scientific, medical, psychiatric, psychological and anthropological knowledge on this subject. Every bit of evidence from the real world puts the lie to their philosophy. We are winning this battle, at the pace that the children grow up to be adults, having used their own eyes and ears.
It's also a mystery why they would get to be anonymous. They saw to it that someone else's private life became a public issue, so fuck that and fuck them.
You're right, of course, but it also underscores how scared we are of offending each other that we engage in mush mouthed obfuscation rather than speak clearly.
Fine. Then straight teachers can't talk about their spouses, put pictures on their desks, or wear wedding rings. Personal life is personal, after all.