Message #8563

[bknabe]

Jerry Buell is an interesting case. I do share his belief that marriage is between a man and a woman, but that is as far as it goes. I do not share the hatred he showed by his statements, and I don't blindly support him because we share some beliefs. If he has been preaching his religion in the classroom, he should have been removed long ago. If he has treated any student with anything less than respect he should have been removed from the classroom. But when it came to his spewing his views on Facebook, the problem there was that he thought he had privacy. As much as some people want to deny it, if this had been someone spouting hatred against straight marriage it would have been ignored or laughed at. If it had been a gay teacher attacked because he didn't understand his Facebook settings we would be railing at the attackers and at Facebook for having such obfuscated privacy settings.

But this wasn't a fringe wingnut talking about straight marriage, or a gay teacher put in harms way because he didn't understand his Facebook settings, it was a fringe wingnut spouting against gay marriage, so he get international exposure (polarizing people who might have been able to at least peacefully coexist) and is pilloried. You might even say he's on the way to becoming a martyr if his career is damaged or ended because of his Facebook comments. That will not help the cause of gay marriage or gay rights in general.

The school may be showing the most wisdom of all, moving focus from gay bashing to separation of Church and State.