A New Jersey teacher, Viki Knox, was not happy her high school was celebrating October as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender History month.
So she complained about it, on her personal Facebook page. She wrote: homosexuality is a perverted spirit that has existed from the beginning of creation”, and that she was ‘pitching a fit’ about it.
My knee-jerk reaction was: Oh, my God. Why is this woman still teaching? Then I read a little futher along in the New York Times article, and read how the ACLU is defending her right to say what the civil liberties organization concedes is a vile point of view on her own, personal corner of the internets. Then I felt ashamed of myself. Conflicted, but ashamed. After all, would I want a open member of the New Nazi Party teaching? Someone who believes girls don’t need math as my math teacher? What if that never spilled into the classroom? Guess what, Viki — it’s there now. That is the inherent risk of speaking your mind.
The other side of this is certainly, you have every right to say what you like. However — I don’t have to listen. Nor do I have to give you a paycheck.
“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it,” Atributed to Voltaire (François Marie Arouet: 1694–1778)
What are your thoughts?
