Homophobic teacher suspended

An Indiana school district has suspended Diana Medley a teacher who lobbied for an LGBTQ-free prom. In all fairness, you could always just choose to be straight and then you could go to the prom, since sexual orientation is a decision and choice, according to Medley. “I believe that it was life circumstances and they chose to be that way,” Medley told NBC affiliate, WTWO. “Homosexual students come to me with their problems, and I don’t agree with them, but I care about them. It’s the same thing with my special needs kids, I think God puts everyone in our lives for a reason.”  When asked if LGBTQ people have a purpose in life, she responded,  “No I honestly don’t. Sorry, but I don’t. I don’t understand it. A gay person isn’t going to come up and make some change unless it’s to realize that it was a choice and they’re choosing God.” So, God  puts the gays in our lives for a reason, but the gays don’t serve any purpose. That seems like a contradiction but that’s because it’s hard for most of us to grasp the genius that is Diana Medley.

What’s noteworthy is that the school district seemed to suspend Medley for her own safety, not to punish her for her homophobic organizing and speech. Superintendent Mark Baker of the Northeast School Corp. in western Indiana’s Sullivan County issued a statement saying the teacher has been placed on administrative leave out of concern “for the safety and security of everyone in our buildings.” He added that “as a precaution” the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Department and Indiana State Police “have deemed it necessary to station an officer” at North Central Junior-Senior High School. He said the “administration and one school employee in particular” have received “aggressive email messages.” While the statement doesn’t specify who the employee is, as Queerty points out,  “it doesn’t take a homophobic rocket scientist to ascertain that he was referring to special education teacher Diana Medley, who stated that she believes gay people have no purpose in life and compared gay students to special needs kids.”

Lest you think the only response to Medley has been threatening e-mails, it’s important to note that as I write this post, a petition on Change.org calling for Medley’s dismissal has 19,715 signatures, and a Facebook page supporting a prom that includes all students has more than 28,123 likes.