Colorado Congressman Jared Polis (D), the first openly gay parent in Congress, has called for an investigation into Twin Peaks Charter Academy after its principal canceled the valedictorian’s speech before the student was about to come out.
According to Casey Quinlan over at Thinkprogress,
“The valedictorian, Evan Young, said he showed the principal, BJ Buchmann, his speech, and the principal requested he not include any information on his sexuality. Young asserted that it was part of a general point he wanted to make in the speech. The principal then showed the speech to Young’s parents, whom Young had not come out to yet.”
The lawyer defending the school is Barry Arrington, former head of The Rocky Mountain Family Council which is a Conservative group that,
?’promotes and champion’s marriage and family values,’? and the former treasurer of Michele Bachmann’s presidential political action committee, MICHELEPAC.”
Thanks to Quinlan, we receive a little background on Arrington’s dark side, when in a blog post he writes,
instant if everyone acknowledged this obvious truth.?
It’s funny because the charter’s agreement states:
The issue?goes deeper, to the President of the Charter Board Kathy DeMatteo who, along with the principal, was called out for violating the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act.
DeMatteo was quick to cover herself by eluding to a court case of Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier which ruled educators can,
“express control over student speech in school sponsored activities as long as their actions are reasonably related to legitimate pedagogical concerns.?
Or, in the Dematteo’s case, her own self interests and that of the Rocky Mountain Family Council.
Dematteo also said the speech was,
? ? ? ? ? “condescending toward the school and his peers,”
Last time I checked, there is something called Freedom of Expression, even if the expression is not considered normal by Regressive standards.
As of now, the speech by valedictorian Evan Young was censored, setting the Progressives in America back a number of years. As you can see below, Evan Young did eventually give the speech he was barred from giving, in a back yard, to a supporting crowd of family, friends, neighbors, and politicians. It’s hard to imagine a place where self expression isn’t promoted — oh wait, it’s accepted when the values align with the masses, but not with the fewer.
Check out the video below!
