Gay student says principal outed him

A Memphis high school principal, fed up with public displays of affection in the hallways, allegedly displayed a list of couples — including some who are gay — in the school, publicly outing the boys and violating their privacy, according to one of the students involved.
Memphis Principal Daphne Beasley is being accused of posting a list naming the school’s teenage gay couples — without their O.K. — in an effort to combat public displays of affection.

“I really feel that my personal privacy was invaded,” Nicholas, one of the young men who claims his sexuality was exposed without his approval by his principal, told ABC News’ Memphis affiliate Eyewitness News Everywhere. “I mean, Principal Beasley called my mother and outted me to my mother!

Well, Nicholas, here’s a lesson for you: What you feel is neither here nor there. Others need not be governed by your feelings. You outed yourself. The principal remarked upon your public behavior. And you don’t have a privacy interest in your public behavior:


“The principal did not list any information other than students’ names on her personal call list, and she certainly did not specify the sexual orientation of any student,” said Van D. Turner, Jr., associate general counsel of the Memphis City Schools Board of Education, in a statement provided to ABCNEWS.com. “Additionally, the list was never posted publicly anywhere at the school.”

rightrainbow.com...


The principal clearly exceeded her authority, and acted completely inappropriately. It is outrageous and cruel. These teens may not have come out to their parents due to fear of being disowned, kicked out, beaten up, etc. This principal should be fired and the school district sued.

Originally posted by Master_Wii
The principal clearly exceeded her authority, and acted completely inappropriately. It is outrageous and cruel. These teens may not have come out to their parents due to fear of being disowned, kicked out, beaten up, etc. This principal should be fired and the school district sued.

The principal may have acted inappropriately, but in my opinion, if the teens were really worried about privacy, I think they should not have displayed affection publicly in the first place - specially in school.

If the list contained only gay couples, than I could see the problem, but that was not the case.

Just my 2 cents.

They were caught making out in the schools hallway and now they are complaining that their privacy has been violated? Sorry, gay or straight, I just don't get that one.

[edit on 7-5-2008 by zerotime]

Exactly.

Complete non-sequitur.

How can they carry out their business in public AND complain about a violation of privacy?!

[edit on 7-5-2008 by 44soulslayer]

Reading the original story, it seems like the kid is upset mainly because the principle outed him to his mom - which I agree it wasn't her business to do.

Also, we don't have any specifics about what kind of "PDA violation" he got in trouble for.

Making out in the hallway is pretty public.

Making out in the empty A/V room? Not so much.

Not that I would know anything about that

EDIT: again, from the original news story, it appears that according to the student in question's mother, the principal is lying about what she told the parent during her phone call:

Sun, who told ABCNEWS.com that she believes the Memphis school district to be "homophobic," said that Nicholas' mother — who was "shocked" to hear that her son is gay — reported that Beasley said she "had a problem with homosexuality" and that "homosexuality will not be tolerated."

So we're only being told part of the original story, by a blogger with an ideological ax to grind.

Increasingly this is the kind of thing we need to look out for.


[edit on 5/7/08 by xmotex]

If the kid was making out in public, then they've outed themselves. Kids should understand that what happens publically in schools is only a hair's breadth away from their parents' knowledge.

Don't think I'm some crazed right-wing pseudonazi or anything - sexuality is sexuality.

I'd like to hear the rest of this story.

I'm all for gay rights, but I'm also a big fan of denying ignorance. If these kids are making out in the hallways or in school or wherever, they're 'out' already. If they don't expect it to make it back home, then don't do things in public. What if his mother was walking through the halls that day? Or what if he was making out with his boyfriend at the mall and she walked by? Same deal.

And if we're talking about equality, the principal did the same thing to the strait couples too. So this is what happens when people have equal rights, they're treated equally! It's a good thing right?