Ramirez suggested hosting a group of people with diverse opinions to try to find some resolution and a path forward. “If your kid was over at my house, and he was asking me questions, how would you want me to respond?” one parent, Jessey Ramirez, asked another parent. It is scary what might happen as far as suicides,” she said.īeyond the classroom events, Bayfield community members at the meeting argued for different paths forward. “I don’t worry so much about suicide for some of them because they have each other. Almost half of transgender adults have considered suicide in the past 12 months, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness.Īt the community meeting, Jenna Stumpf, a parent, said she was concerned about students in the LGBTQ community. High school students who identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual are almost five times as likely to attempt suicide compared with their heterosexual peers. My conversation with them was that you should be kind to people whether or not you agree with their choices.” “I never once told them that you have to believe that being gay is right. “I have a duty as a teacher to make sure that students are all being nice to each other,” she said. In the classroom discussion, Riley said she emphasized respecting the beliefs of everyone, even when they differ from personal beliefs. “I was definitely caught off guard by all the backlash in the community because I did not think it would be an issue at all,” said Riley, who joined the middle school in August. Out of the confusion, one thing became clear: There are many conflicting stories about what happened in the classroom the day the flag was displayed. “The rainbow flag represents that all students feel safe.”
“The parents should know what’s going on in school,” said Jennifer Stucka-Benally, a gay rights advocate.
#Outrage over american gay flag series
The discussion broke down several times in a series of interruptions before regaining some order.
Others advocated against LGBTQ lessons and for a pressure campaign on school board candidates in the November elections. She should be teaching academics, and that should not be taught in school.” “The teacher gave her perspective, and I don’t think that’s the teacher’s responsibility. “I was upset that I didn’t get to have that conversation with my daughter,” said Michael Dawn Vavrina, whose Facebook post spurred a social media debate about the flag in the classroom, at the community meeting. At the meeting, LGBTQ-rights advocates holding signs and rainbow flags greeted concerned parents in front of Town Hall. 17 at Bayfield Town Hall to discuss the incident. Since then, parents have become upset that Riley hung the rainbow flag – which is commonly used as a symbol of unity in LGBTQ social movements – and objected to discussions around the flag or sexuality. “I want all of my students to feel included and to feel safe in my classroom, so we had a conversation about why that is important.” “My intention was not to have a classroom discussion about it,” she said. She was not advocating for or against LGBTQ issues, she said rather, she was advocating for kindness. Riley stopped her lesson to address student concerns and resolve the conflict, she said. The day she hung it, several students reacted in anger after seeing it on the wall, upsetting other students in the process, she said. Students had been decorating the classroom all year, and Riley said she received permission from the school principal to display the gay pride flag. Lyn Riley, a teacher at Bayfield Middle School, displayed the flag earlier this month after a student asked her if she would hang it on the classroom wall. BAYFIELD – An eighth grade teacher’s decision to hang a rainbow flag and hold a discussion about LGBTQ issues has sparked controversy in the town of Bayfield.