For your daily dose of awesome this morning, watch openly gay 14-year-old Graeme Taylor defend his teacher, Jay McDowell, who was suspended without pay earlier this month for chastising a student for making anti-gay remarks (and another student wearing a confederate flag). His speech references Martin Luther King Jr’s speech, and asks the school board if a town—once home of the KKK—really wants this on its record.
As Taylor puts it: “I hope that we can be judged by the content of our character and not who we love.”
We want to be his friend. Here’s the video.
Joseph: You’re insane. What does the KKK have to do with the fact that that town is their headquarters and the kid kicked out of class was wearing a confederate flag belt buckle and making anti-gay remarks? Do you really need the dots connected for you? The teacher should not have been punished. If high school students can’t wear shirts with beer logos or drug emblems on it, they certainly should not be allowed to wear things that go hand-in-hand with hate, racism and slavery. And anyone who belittles an entire group of people in class certainly should be booted.… Read more »
We don’t do anyone any favors (least of all that kid) by characterizing him as “awesome.” All he’s doing here is blustering (although with good diction, I’ll admit). The fact that the KKK had a presence in that town has nothing to do with the issue. The teacher certainly deserved to be disciplined for punishing a student for disagreeing with him. (He didn’t just “chastise” the kid; he threw him out of class. For his opinions. That’s right.) The kid’s making an emotional appeal, devoid of critical thinking, and I don’t care if he’s gay or not: he’s still just… Read more »