After Learning Their Kids’ Teacher Is Gay This Parent Pulls Them Out Of Class, And Teacher’s Response Is Brilliant
A performing arts teacher in London, England got quite a shock when he received a text message from a parent of a couple of his students, announcing that they would be pulled from his class because of his ‘lifestyle’ choices.
Basically, Michael is gay and the parent, as a Christian, didn’t approve and was worried about his ‘influence’ on the children. Now, how this parent plans to continue their kids’ education in theatre without ever encountering a gay person is a mystery as, as Michael quite eloquently puts it, “theatre without gays is like cooking without spices.” So good luck with that.
Michael’s response to what was no doubt a hurtful announcement; the suggestion that his profession and passion for teaching is somehow effected by his sexuality, was applause-worthy and was widely shared on Twitter. Scroll down to read it all for yourself, and let us know what you think. Was he right to respond in this way? Or does the parent have the right to a refund? Join the discussion!
This is performing arts teacher Michael
He got a quite a shocking message from a parent of his students about his ‘lifestyle’
Here’s how people reacted
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I f**king HATE when these people write that "as a Christian" they can't tolerate this or that. What they should be writing is "as a narrow-minded, self-centered medieval concervative person with a primitive view on religion". As a Christian, I get furious when these kinds of people are allowed to be the ones defining what religion is, making people view religion as something restrictive, downputting and discriminating, when it is in fact the exact opposite.
Read that a die hard christian girl that was raised to believe gay was a "choice" got a verbal slap in the face when her dormmate's gay friends said "we get physically attacked, verbally abused, discriminated against, denied access to basics and are threatened daily just because of who we love. Why would anyone choose this?" After that, she questioned what her parents had taught her about being a good Christian.
My mom has always said no one would choose to be gay for those exact reasons.
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I'm gay. And I'm glad my son is straight. It's easier for him and no parent want's their kid to have a hard time.
Gerry Higgins good for you! I am straight so I will never fully understand your position but I fully support everyone with the will to be themselves.
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Yeah...the only thing that should come after the statement "as a Christian" should be, "I've been taught to love EVERYONE."
Pam Falcioni I am a Catholic and these type of people embarrass me. So many people reference 'One man is to be married to one woman.' But seem to forget that many aspects of bible have been updated to fit today's society. The most famous quote from the bible that will NEVER be changed is 'Love thou neighbour as I have loved you.'
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Ouch... the bible reference must have hurt her... I hope a lot.
A very professional and clear response to a sad and warped perspective. Using your own religion as an excuse for bigotry is contrary to reality and creates a false impression of the intentions of the religion.
At the end of last year my school fired a teatch due to him being gay and put a lot of propaganda out to students and families. The older students who are not homophobic had a massive protest but there hasn't been any inquiries whit the school board.
This is great! Props to this teacher! I hope he knows that not all Christians use their beliefs as excuses to be bigots! God is love, and He loves everyone, No exceptions!!!
It was fine up until you learned, and that made all the difference? There is no other name than bigotry for this. If he's a good teacher in his subject, then what exactly difference does his lifestyle have to do with anything? It's not like he's enforcing it upon the kids or anything. Would you react the same if you learned that the shelve-stacker in the shop was gay and had touched your food (hint, there's a bloody good chance of that)? Should (s)he be fired? can you buy food there, now that you know? Sadly, there's no short supply of idiots in this world.
For all of world history homosexuality has been looked down upon and so you need to understand that not everyone approves of it nor would they want their children to be around someone who is homosexual (The correct term) and it’s not that they’re simply getting someone who teaches them art their character comes along with it ~or lack of character. Try to understand that half the country does not agree with liberalism. Just as half the country doesn’t believe in conservativism!
like one of the other replies to that tweet, I don't think I would have been able to be a polite as that. plus, I am aware that there are plenty of entitled people in the word but it's people like that that make LGBTQ+ people afraid to come out of the closet and embrace who they are. I F**king hate Karens. (No offence to actually nice people named Karen)
I find this sad. I always thought us Brits were fairly liberal. It is a shame that children should not get their education of choice because of a parents views. Of course they are entitled to their views but should really keep them to the selves
Yeah - being left-handed makes one an "abomination". Two seeds in the same hole makes you an abomination (some seeds are CLUSTERS) Wearing more than one type of clothing at the same time makes most "christians" abominations - and the Bible DOESN'T RANK ABOMINATIONS, does it? Nope. Some i've blogged w/over the years strongly implied the gays needed to be punished - so i would ask about these above points and where they became abominations. (Really - who HASN'T worn cotton and something else?) So i volunteered THEM to be stoned first. Then point out that WAIT!!! We don't live in ancient israel 4,000 years ago - we live in the USA in the 21st century - never mind.
they better not have sex before marriage...
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Glitter is awful for the environment, and should not be supported in any manner.
Jesus tolerated all. Christianity means to be Christ like. They aren't Christians.
Completely perfect response... would be thrilled to have such a teacher for my children, grandchildren, any children! I'd like to think he imparted some form of perspective to this parent - unfortunately, as a good friend of mine recently said, some people are so narrow minded that both their eyeballs are in the same socket.
I believe this is an "Oh Snap!" Moment here. Hehe. Enjoyed reading this comment, and it is interesting to see others talking about it and their points of view. I am not sure when it became normal to discuss sex, or sexual orientation with people so openly. Can you imagine the Awkwardness of a conversation at say a Fast Food restaurant? Person in line says, "Hi I am Joe." You say "Hi joe. Im Echo, what would you like?" They say, "Are you Gay? You say, "Excuse me? Are you here to buy a sandwich? If not, I am going to have to ask you to get out of the line. There are others waiting to make an order." That's just not how we communicate with people. Jeez. To be honest these people act like they are part of some special club. Very odd bunch. Glad I took that out of my kids lives. I would hate to see them spouting some garbage like this to people they don't know.
I've wondered about the need to discuss orientation, too...that it's only with something other than heterosexuals! Funny thing is - as woke as my daughter & her friends are, they can still carry on about a teacher being gay.
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you sound like a great teacher...still you should learn the difference between "effect" and "affect"...
I wouldn't want a child of mine being his student either. Any teacher that doesn't know the difference between there, their, and they're, regardless of what subject they teach, gets a no in my book. That's elementary school level dumbness.
I'm an observant Jew. I believe homosexuality is immoral. I believe it to be gross. But I also believe that it is not my place to judge another person, nor to enforce my beliefs upon them. I do not have to agree with someone else's beliefs to stand firm and support their right to have them. As it is said, "I disagree utterly with everything you say, but I will fight to the death for your right to say it!"
I am also an observant jew. May I ask you if any of your clothing mixes linen and wool? That’s mentioned quite a bit more than homosexuality.
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Gays are so normal these days. Like other people. Literally everyone falls into some niche. So stop whining. I also wanted to point out some important things. 1. He rightly wants equality for everyone...apart from christians [and I say this as an Atheist]. 2. It is 'affect' and not 'effect' [teacher...yeah] 3. Get over yourself, I understand you want to 'win this battle of wit' [and you did - clap clap] but you could have just as much said: "OK". They can believe what they want man, we all have different beliefs. They don't want you dead or fired or to suffer, they just want their kid out. Are they naive? Hell yeah bit it's their business.
I was enjoying reading these comments till I hit your comment. The constant corrections of people's informal communication is off putting and ruins these things for others. Think about others before yourself. :). Now i have to move on because you ruined this post for me. *Sigh* there should be a button so I can filter out grammar Nazi comments. Oh well.
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Ya know, just because YOU do not care does NOT mean that no one else does. Literally no one forced you to read this article.
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Not to be rude, but this isn't about "go gay", it's about respecting others. It isn't an ally thing because you are pan. I am not pan, and I see what happened here as wrong. It really doesn't matter what any of us are. A decent human being sees this and goes, "wow that was wrong. That art teacher didn't deserve that treatment." So everyone that is moral would be on this person's side.
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But dont "good" Christians always use certain scriptures for their bigotry? I am not saying that you are wrong, I am just saying you cannot get angry at this teacher for doing it when "good" christians do it all of the time. They live by one portion of the bible but forget to follow the rest. I think one of the most important scriptures Matthew 7:2 is the one always forgotten by "good" Christians, For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
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For those that don't speak Portuguese, this user's name means 'son of a b***h'. Apt?
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I f**king HATE when these people write that "as a Christian" they can't tolerate this or that. What they should be writing is "as a narrow-minded, self-centered medieval concervative person with a primitive view on religion". As a Christian, I get furious when these kinds of people are allowed to be the ones defining what religion is, making people view religion as something restrictive, downputting and discriminating, when it is in fact the exact opposite.
Read that a die hard christian girl that was raised to believe gay was a "choice" got a verbal slap in the face when her dormmate's gay friends said "we get physically attacked, verbally abused, discriminated against, denied access to basics and are threatened daily just because of who we love. Why would anyone choose this?" After that, she questioned what her parents had taught her about being a good Christian.
My mom has always said no one would choose to be gay for those exact reasons.
Load More Replies... I'm gay. And I'm glad my son is straight. It's easier for him and no parent want's their kid to have a hard time.
Gerry Higgins good for you! I am straight so I will never fully understand your position but I fully support everyone with the will to be themselves.
Load More Replies... Yeah...the only thing that should come after the statement "as a Christian" should be, "I've been taught to love EVERYONE."
Pam Falcioni I am a Catholic and these type of people embarrass me. So many people reference 'One man is to be married to one woman.' But seem to forget that many aspects of bible have been updated to fit today's society. The most famous quote from the bible that will NEVER be changed is 'Love thou neighbour as I have loved you.'
Load More Replies... Ouch... the bible reference must have hurt her... I hope a lot.
A very professional and clear response to a sad and warped perspective. Using your own religion as an excuse for bigotry is contrary to reality and creates a false impression of the intentions of the religion.
At the end of last year my school fired a teatch due to him being gay and put a lot of propaganda out to students and families. The older students who are not homophobic had a massive protest but there hasn't been any inquiries whit the school board.
This is great! Props to this teacher! I hope he knows that not all Christians use their beliefs as excuses to be bigots! God is love, and He loves everyone, No exceptions!!!
It was fine up until you learned, and that made all the difference? There is no other name than bigotry for this. If he's a good teacher in his subject, then what exactly difference does his lifestyle have to do with anything? It's not like he's enforcing it upon the kids or anything. Would you react the same if you learned that the shelve-stacker in the shop was gay and had touched your food (hint, there's a bloody good chance of that)? Should (s)he be fired? can you buy food there, now that you know? Sadly, there's no short supply of idiots in this world.
For all of world history homosexuality has been looked down upon and so you need to understand that not everyone approves of it nor would they want their children to be around someone who is homosexual (The correct term) and it’s not that they’re simply getting someone who teaches them art their character comes along with it ~or lack of character. Try to understand that half the country does not agree with liberalism. Just as half the country doesn’t believe in conservativism!
like one of the other replies to that tweet, I don't think I would have been able to be a polite as that. plus, I am aware that there are plenty of entitled people in the word but it's people like that that make LGBTQ+ people afraid to come out of the closet and embrace who they are. I F**king hate Karens. (No offence to actually nice people named Karen)
I find this sad. I always thought us Brits were fairly liberal. It is a shame that children should not get their education of choice because of a parents views. Of course they are entitled to their views but should really keep them to the selves
Yeah - being left-handed makes one an "abomination". Two seeds in the same hole makes you an abomination (some seeds are CLUSTERS) Wearing more than one type of clothing at the same time makes most "christians" abominations - and the Bible DOESN'T RANK ABOMINATIONS, does it? Nope. Some i've blogged w/over the years strongly implied the gays needed to be punished - so i would ask about these above points and where they became abominations. (Really - who HASN'T worn cotton and something else?) So i volunteered THEM to be stoned first. Then point out that WAIT!!! We don't live in ancient israel 4,000 years ago - we live in the USA in the 21st century - never mind.
they better not have sex before marriage...
Load More Replies... Glitter is awful for the environment, and should not be supported in any manner.
Jesus tolerated all. Christianity means to be Christ like. They aren't Christians.
Completely perfect response... would be thrilled to have such a teacher for my children, grandchildren, any children! I'd like to think he imparted some form of perspective to this parent - unfortunately, as a good friend of mine recently said, some people are so narrow minded that both their eyeballs are in the same socket.
I believe this is an "Oh Snap!" Moment here. Hehe. Enjoyed reading this comment, and it is interesting to see others talking about it and their points of view. I am not sure when it became normal to discuss sex, or sexual orientation with people so openly. Can you imagine the Awkwardness of a conversation at say a Fast Food restaurant? Person in line says, "Hi I am Joe." You say "Hi joe. Im Echo, what would you like?" They say, "Are you Gay? You say, "Excuse me? Are you here to buy a sandwich? If not, I am going to have to ask you to get out of the line. There are others waiting to make an order." That's just not how we communicate with people. Jeez. To be honest these people act like they are part of some special club. Very odd bunch. Glad I took that out of my kids lives. I would hate to see them spouting some garbage like this to people they don't know.
I've wondered about the need to discuss orientation, too...that it's only with something other than heterosexuals! Funny thing is - as woke as my daughter & her friends are, they can still carry on about a teacher being gay.
Load More Replies... you sound like a great teacher...still you should learn the difference between "effect" and "affect"...
I wouldn't want a child of mine being his student either. Any teacher that doesn't know the difference between there, their, and they're, regardless of what subject they teach, gets a no in my book. That's elementary school level dumbness.
I'm an observant Jew. I believe homosexuality is immoral. I believe it to be gross. But I also believe that it is not my place to judge another person, nor to enforce my beliefs upon them. I do not have to agree with someone else's beliefs to stand firm and support their right to have them. As it is said, "I disagree utterly with everything you say, but I will fight to the death for your right to say it!"
I am also an observant jew. May I ask you if any of your clothing mixes linen and wool? That’s mentioned quite a bit more than homosexuality.
Load More Replies... Gays are so normal these days. Like other people. Literally everyone falls into some niche. So stop whining. I also wanted to point out some important things. 1. He rightly wants equality for everyone...apart from christians [and I say this as an Atheist]. 2. It is 'affect' and not 'effect' [teacher...yeah] 3. Get over yourself, I understand you want to 'win this battle of wit' [and you did - clap clap] but you could have just as much said: "OK". They can believe what they want man, we all have different beliefs. They don't want you dead or fired or to suffer, they just want their kid out. Are they naive? Hell yeah bit it's their business.
I was enjoying reading these comments till I hit your comment. The constant corrections of people's informal communication is off putting and ruins these things for others. Think about others before yourself. :). Now i have to move on because you ruined this post for me. *Sigh* there should be a button so I can filter out grammar Nazi comments. Oh well.
Load More Replies... Ya know, just because YOU do not care does NOT mean that no one else does. Literally no one forced you to read this article.
Load More Replies... Not to be rude, but this isn't about "go gay", it's about respecting others. It isn't an ally thing because you are pan. I am not pan, and I see what happened here as wrong. It really doesn't matter what any of us are. A decent human being sees this and goes, "wow that was wrong. That art teacher didn't deserve that treatment." So everyone that is moral would be on this person's side.
Load More Replies... But dont "good" Christians always use certain scriptures for their bigotry? I am not saying that you are wrong, I am just saying you cannot get angry at this teacher for doing it when "good" christians do it all of the time. They live by one portion of the bible but forget to follow the rest. I think one of the most important scriptures Matthew 7:2 is the one always forgotten by "good" Christians, For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
Load More Replies... For those that don't speak Portuguese, this user's name means 'son of a b***h'. Apt?
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