Gay-themed Film Costs Oklahoma Teacher Her Job

As if any further proof was needed that homophobia is alive and well in Sally Kern's toxic state of Oklahoma, USA Today has reported that a rural Oklahoma high school teacher has lost her job because she showed The Laramie Project, a 2002 film based on the play of the same name, about the murder of Matthew Shepard. The Bible beaters simply cannot tolerate any acknowledgement that LGBT Americans exist or any exposure of the murderous consequences of the constant anti-gay mantra that they disseminate. God forbid that they might be disturbed in the course of their self-congratulatory pats on their own backs. It's a disgusting situation and I hope this and other acts of bigoted discrimination get wide publicity so that companies will think twice before relocating to backwards states like Oklahoma - and Virginia for that matter. As for the school division's excuse for the firing, from my years as an education activist, public school administrators are only slightly less dishonest than your hard core Christianists. If their lips are moving in a situation like this, they are generally lying. Here are some story highlights:

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Gay rights groups are complaining about the firing of a rural Oklahoma high school teacher who lost her job last week after assigning a play about the 1998 death of a gay college student. But the tiny school district says the move came after the teacher held a mock "funeral" for a canceled film production of the play.

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Taylor, 50, knew the project was controversial with strong language, but got her principal's permission. A few weeks into it, the principal told her to stop production. After students protested, she held a 20-minute ceremony in a nearby park in which students wrote their thoughts and rolled them into helium balloons, then released them.

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The next day, Taylor says, Superintendent Ed Turlington canceled the class. After she complained to a school board member, Turlington put her on paid leave and recommended that she be fired. The school board approved her resignation Friday.

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Taylor says she was let go for complaining to the board member, but others say it was a result of the play's subject: homophobia. "They don't want something like this addressed in our community," says senior Matt Ebner, one of Taylor's former students.

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Coincidentally, Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church had been scheduled to protest at the school later this week. In any event, the bigots at Grandfield High School can be reached at (580) 479-3140. The Mailing Address is P.O. Box 639, Grandfield, OK 73546