Posted on 05/02/2008 8:53:09 AM PDT by Tired of Taxes
Memphis, TN - Attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union say Daphne Beasley, the principal of Hollis F. Price Middle College High School in South Memphis, went way beyond her role as educator.
The ACLU says in September 2007, Beasley asked her staff to give her the names of students who were couples, heterosexual and homosexual, because she wanted to keep an eye on them to cut down on public displays of affection.
She's accused of publicly posting the names of those students, including two boys, Andrew and Nicholas, who had just started dating. The ACLU says that in doing so, Beasley revealed their relationship to other students, teachers and even their parents.
In a letter sent Tuesday, April 29, 2008 to Memphis City Schools, the ACLU says the principal's actions violated the students' constitutional rights to equal protection, freedom of expression and association, due process and privacy.
"Our first reaction was wow, this is unbelievable that a principal has gone this far," says ACLU attorney Christine Sun. "The constitution protects all of us from the government intruding in our private lives when there isn't a reason to do that. This was morally and legally wrong."
One of the young men, Nicholas, an 11th grader who just made the Dean's List, spoke with Eyewitness News Everywhere.
"It was actually frightening," he says, "to see a list with my name on it where not just other teachers could see but students as well."
Nicholas says his teachers and other students treat him differently as a result of Principal Beasley's decision and that he and Andrew have both had to deal with verbal assaults. Nicholas was also not allowed to go on a trip to New Orleans to help rebuild homes because, as one of his teacher's explained, he would "embarrass" the school by engaging in gay affection.
"I really feel that my personal privacy was invaded," Nicholas says. "I mean, Principal Beasley called my mother and outed me to my mother!"
The ACLU wants the school district to create new policies that would prevent these types of acts from happening again. The group is also asking for compensation for Andrew and Nicholas and for an apology from the principal.
And the final demand from the ACLU says attorney Sun: "Some sort of reprimand to the principal because this type of thing should not be happening at any school."
Eyewitness News Everywhere requested a response from MCS. Van Davis Turner Jr., the associate general counsel for the Memphis City Schools Board of Education, released the following statement: "We take all allegations of invasion of privacy and discrimination seriously. At this time, we have not completed our internal investigation of this matter. Once we have completed our investigation, we will submit a formal response to the ACLU, directly addressing the issue. We look forward to working with the ACLU to amicably resolve this matter, if possible."
The ACLU wants a reply from MCS by Friday, May 9th or legal action will be pursued.
Hollis F. Price Middle College High School opened in 2004 in a collaborative effort with LeMoyne Owen College. Students can earn a high school diploma and two years of college credit. About 150 kids are enrolled right now in grades 9 through 12.
So it’s okay to suspend students for showing religion in public in school, but heaven forbid homosexual students get their names put on a list?
Well, the way things are nowadays, in a world where a young teenager can get an abortion without parental notification, it makes perverse sense that they aren’t supposed to notify parents about homosexual behavior.
The activists have been push "Pride" for decades. And yet here we are. Why? It's because everyone -- yes: everyone -- knows deep inside that the behavior is wrong.
Do they make a bumper sticker for this, "My Gay Son is an Honor Student"?
An argument could be made that if she put the names of only heterosexual couples on the list, she would’ve been “discriminating.” ;-)
Still, I don’t think any of the couples should’ve had their names publicly posted. Kudos to this principal for alerting the parents, though!
It reads as if the list included all couples engaged in PDAs, not just the gay couples. Did the school prohibit PDAs? These days, that type of stuff can lead to sexual harassment suits, both from those that were ‘harassed’ and from those that feel left out because they weren’t ‘harassed’. I am not sure I would post such a list, either, but I think it is very telling that the ACLU was concerned about the gay students and not the straight students.
“Our first reaction was wow, this is unbelievable that a principal has gone this far,” says ACLU attorney Christine Sun. “The constitution protects all of us from the government intruding in our private lives when there isn’t a reason to do that. This was morally and legally wrong.”
ROTFLMYAO
Ten bucks says the ACLU wouldn’t make a peep if the list was of students who are religious.
So it’s okay to suspend students for showing religion in public in school, but heaven forbid homosexual students get their names put on a list?
___
I’m not getting how those 2 are comparable.
Exactly. Don’t the straight couples have a right to privacy, too?
plus,
I don't see where ACLU is representing the hetro couples.
The reason that we have so many ignorant government school children in Memphis is that, the educators don't educate, they meddle.
The ACLU always has a great way of faking getting the vapors every time they're getting ready to file a lawsuit, like this is the most egregious violation of civil rights that ever occured.
I am old enough to have been retired for a few years. But I am thankful to say I have NEVER seen a public display of gay affection and hope and pray that I never do. I never been to Europe but someone told me that in some of their ports, it is quite common to see uniformed sailors from various navies walking around holding hands.
Isn't that just precious. Does Hallmark make cards?
Ah this reminds of me of my high school days watching the lesbians during the unsupervised fifteen minute break.
This could have been handled better, notifying the parents yes but outing the students in public is inexcusable regardless of what they’ve done. Like all disciplinary actions this should be handled privatly.
The principal did the right thing in alerting the parents, imho. Most principals should do that, instead of keeping the parents in the dark about what their child is doing in school. (Publicly posting a list for all to see is the strange part.)
The stated goal is for an end to discrimination for homosexuals, for equality in all ways. But here outing heterosexual relationships is seen as okay, but outing homosexual ones is not. What the principal did is the epitome of equal treatment.
They don’t want equality, they want special privelege.
“....And tore apart our happy home in Memphis Tennessee . . .” (Playing air guitar.)
ping
ping
Does the article say how the names were, supposedly, publicly posted?
You can see men holding hands in a lot of countries, but it doesn't necessarily have anything to do with homosexuality. You might pat a buddy on the back, they hold hands with him.
Bingo.
I will say that the principal does have guts to inform Memphis parents about anything at all.
My granddaughter was a city teacher for a short time, she had to quit because, the school wouldn't let her teach, and the parents were always, coming to the school, and threatening to whip her butt, if she didn't give the kid a passing grade.
Well, that will sure make them better............
There is nothing wrong with outing the peeping perverts sharing bathrooms and showers with normal males. Imagine if boys were allowed to share showers and bathrooms with girls. The perverted behavior is acceptable but normal male to female is not.
This is absurd. The school has no business even making such a list- I guess this principal is just preparing the kids for life in the surveillance state where people are punished over what they “might” do. If she’s worried about PDAs in the school hallways, all she has to do is crack down on the behaviour. No need to create a registry.
Beasley hung the list up on the wall of her office, in plain view of teachers and other students.
So, the list was hanging in her office, not on a bulletin board in the school halls.
Unfortunately, in fall 2007, we received numerous complaints from LeMoyne-Owen College faculty and staff that some of our student couples were involved in explicit sexual behavior in public view on the college campus.
In light of this information from LeMoyne-Owen faculty and staff, the principal of Hollis F. Price made several general announcements to the student body that this behavior would not be tolerated. Regrettably, the improper behavior continued. Therefore, the principal felt it appropriate to notify the parents of those children she knew to be involved romantically. This was done in an effort to gain the support of the parents in reinforcing the message that such behavior is in violation of Memphis City Schools’ Student Code of Conduct. The principal did not list any information other than students’ names on her personal call list, and she certainly did not specify the sexual orientation of any student. Additionally, the list was never posted publicly anywhere at the school.
It is the position of Memphis City Schools that the principal did act in an appropriate manner in order to correct a serious issue at the school and that Memphis City Schools has not subjected either of these students to discriminatory treatment.
Um. . .I have no idea how this was supposed to decrease public displays of affection.
But as to the 'outing' of the two boys? Everyone probably already knew.
Besides, the homosexual activists are always trying to 'out' someone, so what the heck. . .it must be okay.
It was aimed more at the ACLU’s reaction.
I read a news story (I believe it was on here) about a group of students who were suspended for praying out in the school yard, and the ACLU didn’t make a peep about the incident.
Now, some homosexual students get their names put on a list in public and it’s a crime against humanity to the ACLU.
Tell me, which one is more wrong: suspending students for simply praying in the school yard, or putting the names of homosexual students on a public list?
In Vietnam, holding hands is a sign of friendship.
But that's what the gays want - FOR THE WHOLE WORLD TO KNOW THEY'RE GAY, AND LOVING, AND GAY AND NORMAL.
Make up your mind. Do you want your gayness in everyone's face or not?
seems the principle did not discriminate.
This is what the ACLU wants is equal treatment for those choosing homosexual behavior. They got exactly that.
I would think it would be a legitimate health issue. Normal students should know who not to have physical contact with, shake hands with , wrestle in gym class, etc. Germs, infections, and viruses can spread quickly in a crowded school building.
let’s’ not have dating students, while promoting classes for the unwed mothers and their offspring.
These are kids from the hood. Germs are a way of life for them.
The ACLU is only “for” outing homosexuals when it can be used to turn the GOP base against Republicans encumbants in Congress and hand Congress over to Democrats.
Imagine that, letting the parents know what the kids are up to in school.
World might be a better place if there was more communication between parents and teachers and fewer secrets kept from the parents.
You use the actions of homosexual activists to determine right from wrong?
Not me.
Yeah, but gays can't get pregnant. So abortion is not involved in this discussion. /s
While I myself may not have done what she did, the headline is certainly misleading. She was neutrally applying a policy — No PDA At School Or I Publish Your Names — to all student violators, without regard to gender.
Equality!
My little girl always holds hands with her best friend. Somehow we're told to grow out of it at some point.
They want both, and to pull out whichever is needed to advance the agenda.
It seems as if her interest in this was excessive.
How so?
No, but wouldn't you think the ACLU and the homo activists would agree on such things? If it is wrong, why doesn't the ACLU go after the homo activists who do it?
These are rhetorical questions, because we both already know the answers.
In order to be a good postmodern liberal,
you have to be comfortable with contradiction.
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