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SAFE SCHOOLS COALITION THANKS TEACHER FOR OBJECTING TO GAY SLUR … IT SHOULD NEVER BE DONE WITH A COUNTER-SLUR

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Friday, May 16, 2003

Contact: Beth Reis

Cell: 206-715-1601

Contact: Frieda Takamura

Phone: 253-765-7062

Contact: Marsha Botzer

Phone: 206-726-2056

Cell: 206-601-8942

SAFE SCHOOLS COALITION THANKS TEACHER FOR OBJECTING TO GAY
SLUR … IT SHOULD NEVER BE DONE WITH A COUNTER-SLUR

SEATTLE – It is appropriate for a teacher to intervene when
a student uses a homophobic, sexist or racist remark – but it should never,
ever be done with a counter-slur.

On behalf of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender
(LGBT) community, we want to commend first-year teacher
Brian Emanuels for trying to take steps to correct the pejorative use of the
term "gay" that so many adults choose to ignore. We need to say,
too, however, that the WAY in which Mr. Emanuels intervened was inappropriate.
It is NOT the wish of the LGBT community to have its allies use
counter-punches when a student steps over the line and expresses a prejudice.
Using a racial epithet as a means of empathy-building doesn’t work and is
frankly wrong.

We would like to see the Seattle Public Schools provide
training for every employee regarding appropriate, healthy, productive ways to
uphold its anti-harassment policy. We think it would be extremely unfortunate
if this teacher’s hurtful way of correcting a student – and its community-wide
and administrative repercussions — led other teachers to fear intervening at
all. There are absolutely ways to explain how wrong something is without using
another slur as an analogy. Let’s make sure every educator has had a chance to
see them modeled and to practice them.

We appreciate Mr. Emanuels‘ trying to do something in the
face of a student’s expression of prejudice. And we stand with the NAACP and
others in expressing our tremendous distress at his choice of words.

— 30 —

PDF file of Safe Schools
Coalition press statement on our letterhead: http://www.safeschoolscoalition.org/Clevelandteacher-pressrelease.pdf

Supplementary info: http://www.safeschoolscoalition.org/IfTheseWereRacialSlurs.PDF

Related articles:

Teacher suspended after racial epithet http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/aplocal_story.asp?category=6420&slug=WA%20Racial%20Slur

Racial slur in class brings outcry, unlikely to get
Seattle teacher fired

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/134748989_slur16m.html

Teacher regrets racial slur: Educator says he was
trying to make point after ‚gay‘ remark

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/122270_teacher16.html

An issue deeper than black or white

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/jamieson/122294_robert16.html

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