by Scott Rose
On Spirit Day, 2010, in his Howell, Michigan public high school classroom, student Daniel Glowacki said "I don't accept gays."
Teacher Jay McDowell eventually told him he had to leave the room.
The question of whether McDowell violated Glowacki's free speech rights is presently the subject of a federal lawsuit being brought by Daniel's mother Sandra Glowacki in his name, and in the name of another of her offspring. The pleading is full of language defamatory of gays as a class of people and thus now is the subject of my request for the Attorney Grievance Commission of the State of Michigan to investigate Glowacki's attorneys.
It appears that should this lawsuit go ahead, the determinative facts might have to be ascertained from many student witnesses deposed and/or put on the witness stand under oath.
However all of that may be, Glowacki at all moments admits that in class that day, he said "I do not accept gays." The incident generated controversy in the Howell community. A few days later, Glowacki's mother told a local newspaper "The things people have been saying online about my son have been terrible." Remember; this woman's son said "I don't accept gays" on SPIRIT DAY. Remember too that the LGBT community has had to suffer actual school board members, such as Clint McCance saying that they want all "fags" to commit suicide.
Now here's where this gets REALLY interesting. Sandra Glowacki told her local paper "My son is not a bigot. He has a very diverse group of friends that includes some gays. If a gay student was being picked on in class, he’d stick up for them." Daniel Glowacki . . in this period when he was taking heat for having said "I don't accept gays" told the reporter: "I never said I was against gays."
The Spanish expression is A otro perro con ese hueso . . take that bone to a different dog.
One could speculate that Sandra Glowacki and her son Daniel alleged that Daniel accepts gays after all, perhaps in order to get the criticism then being made of him to die down.
And now, Sandra Glowacki is demanding in a federal court that McDowell and the Howell Public Schools give them MONEY . . . and I'm repeating the word so it's clear what is involved . . . . . $$$$$MONEY$$$$$ . . . for not having allowed Daniel to continue to create a classroom environment hostile against LGBTers after he said . . . (we're not yet sure how many times) . . . . but possibly more than once . . . and on Spirit Day . . "I don't accept gays."
It's enough to make somebody ask themselves "Why would people who said 'My son has gay friends' and 'I never said I was against gays' now file a lawsuit asking for $$$MONEY$$$, $$$MONEY$$$, $$$MONEY$$$ because they don't think Daniel Glowacki got a chance to say "I don't accept gays" enough times in a public high school on Spirit Day?"
Different school districts have different policies but it's hard to imagine many American schools today that would allow students to say and repeat "I don't accept Christians" or even "I don't accept African-Americans." (Note that Daniel's same high school had a notorious anti-African American incident involving students and the Confederate flag, and that the violators were disciplined). It hardly even seems likely, for example, that in an American public school, a student could say, and repeat and then repeat again, over and over and as many times as she pleased during the year "I don't accept Jesus." That statement would too likely provoke a disruption to the learning environment.
The system already "gets" why it can't have public school students saying "I don't accept Jews" and "I don't accept Mormons." But the reason controversy arises around the phrase "I don't accept gays" is that anti-gay bigots like Beverly Lahaye say hateful things such as "They are not a legitimate minority group." Look in the comments under the many right-wing Christian blogs now going into spasms over a Catholic gay basher's alleged right to gay bash, and it won't be long before you hit on anti-gay comments such as "They aren't human." And that is the tip of the ice-berg of the anti-gay vitriol. Under the Thomas More Law Center's Facebook post about the lawsuit, Glowacki supporter Rhein Krigner said "Teach that crap to my kids and I will kick your ass and stick you back in the closet." TMLC's FB page administrators left that comment up for several days while interacting with others on that same comments thread. The gay-bashing comment only disappeared from the thread after my Complaint to the Attorney Grievance Commission . . with that comment mentioned inside . . got published online.
The Glowackis' lawsuit asks for the Court to declare the Howell Public Schools' anti-bullying policy unconstitutional. That is not likely to happen, as precedent law shows that students' free speech rights in public schools are not identical to first amendment rights. One is perhaps not incorrect to opine that what's at stake in this lawsuit . . . besides $$$MONEY$$$ . .. $$$MONEY$$$ . . .$$$MONEY$$$ for the Glowackis (and their Thomas More Law Center attorneys, who are busy waving the Complaint document under anti-gay bigots' noses to attract donations, even though papers have not yet been served on the Defendants) . . is whether American society is ready to think that LGBTers are really human and a legitimate minority.
Showing posts with label Howell School District. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Howell School District. Show all posts
Thursday, December 22, 2011
OPEN LETTER TO GAY-BASHER DANIEL GLOWACKI
From: Scott Rose
To: Daniel Glowacki
Listen, Glowacki you gay-basher. I am calling bullshit on you and your gay-bashing lawsuit that asks a US Federal Court to have a school's sexual-orientation-specific anti-bullying policy declared unconstitutional.
Firstly, let's review the events of Spirit Day, 2010, on which your lawsuit is based.
Apparently, teacher Jay McDowell was wearing a purple Spirit Day shirt in honor of Tyler Clementi while teaching an anti-bullying lesson that was NOT limited to anti-gay bullying. You began your challenge against your fine teacher when he asked another student to remove their Confederate flag belt buckle. It defies credulity to suppose that you had no idea about the Howell School District community's recent history with malicious anti-African American bigotry connected to the image of the Confederate flag. I call bullshit on you in a first instance for your having challenged teacher McDowell over the matter of the Confederate flag. In case you need a reminder of what happened in your community with the Confederate flag, go here. Be sure to read the hateful anti-black comments under that post.
The Howell Schools' anti-bullying policy gets published in your local newspaper. It says that no verbal harassment may be directed against a group. That's what you did, when in class you created a learning environment hostile to LGBT students by saying "I don't accept gays." Nobody in that classroom said "I don't accept Catholics." No victim need come forward with a complaint about your bigoted remarks, for your behavior to constitute a violation of the school's anti-bullying policy. Because your community, and you, in many ways create a hostile environment for gay human beings, it must be allowed that a student in that classroom that day could be actually gay but fearful of coming out because of the toxic environment that you have some responsibility for having created. I repeat that nobody in that classroom said "I don't accept Catholics." You are not a victim of anything; you are a violator of the school's anti-bullying policy, which absolutely would protect you against having to put up with somebody saying "I don't accept Catholics" in a classroom.
One of the main reasons that I'm calling bullshit on you, and on your mother, is that you are talking out of both sides of your mouths. You told a local newspaper "I don't want people to think I'm against gays. That's just not true." And your bullshitting mother told that same paper "My son is not a bigot. He has a very diverse group of friends that includes some gays. If a gay student was being picked on in class, he’d stick up for them."
The lawsuit being brought by your mother in your name contains shocking language defamatory of gay human beings as a group; that language subverts the dignity of the Court. It is as hateful an attack against all gay people as the nasty anti-black comments written under the article about Howell Schools and the Confederate flag.
Your statement that you are not against gays, and your mother's statement that you have some gay friends, are completely contradicted by the hateful anti-gay lawsuit being brought in your name. Your attorneys are running around wagging the Complaint document under anti-gay bigots' noses and encouraging them to gay bash in your community and all over the internet.
Your lawsuit is seeking to have declared unconstitutional an anti-bullying policy that protects you every bit as much as it protects LGBT students. If you want to be in a school environment consistently hostile against LGBTers, and where you may with impunity declare "I don't accept gays," then you should seek out a Catholic school that agrees to provide you with such an environment.
You are a bullshitter, Daniel Glowacki and so is your mother Sandra. Nobody who really was not against gay human beings and who had gay friends would bring the lawsuit you are bringing against the Howell Public School District.
To: Daniel Glowacki
Listen, Glowacki you gay-basher. I am calling bullshit on you and your gay-bashing lawsuit that asks a US Federal Court to have a school's sexual-orientation-specific anti-bullying policy declared unconstitutional.
Firstly, let's review the events of Spirit Day, 2010, on which your lawsuit is based.
Apparently, teacher Jay McDowell was wearing a purple Spirit Day shirt in honor of Tyler Clementi while teaching an anti-bullying lesson that was NOT limited to anti-gay bullying. You began your challenge against your fine teacher when he asked another student to remove their Confederate flag belt buckle. It defies credulity to suppose that you had no idea about the Howell School District community's recent history with malicious anti-African American bigotry connected to the image of the Confederate flag. I call bullshit on you in a first instance for your having challenged teacher McDowell over the matter of the Confederate flag. In case you need a reminder of what happened in your community with the Confederate flag, go here. Be sure to read the hateful anti-black comments under that post.
The Howell Schools' anti-bullying policy gets published in your local newspaper. It says that no verbal harassment may be directed against a group. That's what you did, when in class you created a learning environment hostile to LGBT students by saying "I don't accept gays." Nobody in that classroom said "I don't accept Catholics." No victim need come forward with a complaint about your bigoted remarks, for your behavior to constitute a violation of the school's anti-bullying policy. Because your community, and you, in many ways create a hostile environment for gay human beings, it must be allowed that a student in that classroom that day could be actually gay but fearful of coming out because of the toxic environment that you have some responsibility for having created. I repeat that nobody in that classroom said "I don't accept Catholics." You are not a victim of anything; you are a violator of the school's anti-bullying policy, which absolutely would protect you against having to put up with somebody saying "I don't accept Catholics" in a classroom.
One of the main reasons that I'm calling bullshit on you, and on your mother, is that you are talking out of both sides of your mouths. You told a local newspaper "I don't want people to think I'm against gays. That's just not true." And your bullshitting mother told that same paper "My son is not a bigot. He has a very diverse group of friends that includes some gays. If a gay student was being picked on in class, he’d stick up for them."
The lawsuit being brought by your mother in your name contains shocking language defamatory of gay human beings as a group; that language subverts the dignity of the Court. It is as hateful an attack against all gay people as the nasty anti-black comments written under the article about Howell Schools and the Confederate flag.
Your statement that you are not against gays, and your mother's statement that you have some gay friends, are completely contradicted by the hateful anti-gay lawsuit being brought in your name. Your attorneys are running around wagging the Complaint document under anti-gay bigots' noses and encouraging them to gay bash in your community and all over the internet.
Your lawsuit is seeking to have declared unconstitutional an anti-bullying policy that protects you every bit as much as it protects LGBT students. If you want to be in a school environment consistently hostile against LGBTers, and where you may with impunity declare "I don't accept gays," then you should seek out a Catholic school that agrees to provide you with such an environment.
You are a bullshitter, Daniel Glowacki and so is your mother Sandra. Nobody who really was not against gay human beings and who had gay friends would bring the lawsuit you are bringing against the Howell Public School District.
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