A substitute teacher in Utah was fired this month after criticizing a fifth-grade boy for having two adoptive dads.
According to the Salt Lake Tribune, a class in Deerfield Elementary School in Cedar Hills was preparing for the Thanksgiving holiday when they received a substitute teacher for the day. The teacher asked her temporary students what they were thankful for this Thanksgiving season. One 11-year-old boy said he was thankful for his two dads, but the teacher didn’t like that.
Apparently, the teacher felt the need to reply, “That’s nothing to be thankful for.” She then went on a 10-minute anti-homosexuality tirade.
Three students later reported the incident and the issue reached the ears of the school’s principal. The teacher, who was hired through an agency called Kelly Services, was then escorted off the premises.
“The substitute teacher was giving her very clear opinion, two men is wrong, homosexuality is wrong, and so you can imagine that set us off, and we are not letting this go,” Louis Van Amstel said in a video on social media.
Van Amstel is the adoptive father to the child along with his partner Joshua Van Amstel. Louis Van Amstel is also is a professional choreographer who’s worked on tv shows like Dancing with the Stars and So You Think You Can Dance.
“I am so proud of [the boy’s] school, not only did they let go of the teacher they said this woman is never going to teach in the school ever again,” Van Amstel added.
Van Amstel also expressed gratitude to his son’s classmates through a caption to the video. He wrote, “Three girls asked her multiple times to stop. When she didn’t they went to the principal’s office to complain.”
“I’m proud of those three girls and [the boy’s] school for standing up for our family against this bully. I’m truly disgusted that the bully in this situation is a teacher in a public school.”
According to Newsweek, Kelly Services expressed concern with the reports.
“We are concerned about any reports of inappropriate behavior and take these matters very seriously.”
“We conduct business based on the highest standards of integrity, quality, and professional excellence. We’re looking into this situation and we have no further comment at this time.”
Source: The Salt Lake Tribune, Newsweek
People who support this substitute teacher’s offensive, insensitive comments to the students are no different than closed-minded bigots in a previous generation who had similar sentiments about interracial marriage.
It’s those people who think abortion is wrong, yet won’t support those children once they’re citizens of the planet. That’s why need to vote for candidates who will “Keep your laws off my body!”
How sad that he had to endure that from a teacher / authority figure. She must think it’s better for kids to be without any parents and rot away in the system than to be placed in a loving gay family , ugh so ignorant.