Alabama’s Auburn High School students, parents call for removal of gay pride flag
Students and parents at Auburn High School are asking for the removal of a gay pride flag hung in one of the classrooms by a teacher, ironically applying the argument used to take down Confederate battle flags and statues of Civil War figures from government buildings, college campuses and other public venues.
photo chtfj21
The pride flag in the teacher’s classroom “creates a hostile and provocative learning environment for students not comfortable to openly supporting the LGBTQ+ community in a public school where students come from diverse political and religious backgrounds,” according to a Change.org petition filed by Andrew Monk of Auburn.
Mrs. Yeager identified as the teacher in the petition, a social studies teacher named Donna Yeager.
The petition further states, “It is unprofessional and distracting for a teacher to be so openly displaying their political views in an unbiased and socially neutral public setting.”
The petition stipulates that signers don’t take issue with the teacher’s support for the LGBTQ+ community: “we do feel it creates a less than ideal learning environment when a teacher subjects their students to their personal political views in a public school system.”
The petition re-emphasized how this can create “a hostile and uncomfortable learning environment” for students who come from families that do not support the LGBTQ community.
Auburn City Schools Superintendent Karen DeLano acknowledged in a statement that societal issues were making their way to the school system’s campuses, and given that so many today are “addressing their objections through violence and hate, it is my sincere desire to assist our students in learning to address their opinions and their values in a calm and respectful manner.”
She said it was most appropriate for the students discussing the matter to come to together with faculty to work on handling it while staying within the law, upholding freedom of speech, and maintaining orderly classroom learning.
