Young Gay Student Stands Up for Teacher

A young gay student was one of a number of supporters who stuck up for an embattled schoolteacher in Michigan during a Nov. 8 Board of Education meeting.

The teacher, Jay McDowell, teaches economics at Howell High School, in Howell, Mich. A Nov. 9 MSNBC article recounted that on Oct. 20, a day when supporters nationwide wore purple to commemorate gay teens who had killed themselves after being subjected to anti-gay bullying, McDowell asked a student to remove a Confederate flag belt buckle. Although the student complied without protest, another student, Daniel Glowacki, 16, interjected and asked why the student with the belt buckle should be required to take off the Confederate flag buckle when other students were allowed to wear purple shirts.

According to media accounts, a heated exchange ensued, which Glowacki stating that he was a Christian and did not support the gay "lifestyle." McDowell told Glowacki to leave the classroom. But administrators subjected McDowell to punitive measures, sparking a controversy over whether McDowell followed school district policy regarding the disciplining of students and whether he trampled Glowacki's First Amendment rights.

"It was a teachable moment and there could have been a dialogue rather than ejecting two students from class," Ron Wilson, the school superintendent, told MSNBC, noting that Glowacki had voiced his objection respectfully and without resorting to anti-gay epithets.

The board meeting brought people from "across the state," the article said, many of them supportive of McDowell, but others--such as Glowacki's aunt, T.J. Conray--supportive of Glowacki.

A number of individuals addressed the board, but one of the most remarkable comments came from a gay student. "I myself am gay, and I am a young person," 14-year-old Graham Taylor told the meeting. "This teacher, whom I fully support, finally stood up and said something," Taylor said of McDowell. "I have been in rooms, in classes, where children have said the worst kind of things, the kinds of things that helped derive me to a suicide attempt when I was only nine years old. These are things that hurt a lot."

Taylor, who lives in Ann Arbor, told the board that McDowell "did an amazing thing. He did something that's inspired a lot of people. And whenever, ever, I have a teacher stand up like me for that, they change in my eyes. I support Jay McDowell," Taylor concluded.

Taylor referenced a perception that Howell had served as a base of operations for the Ku Klux Klan in the past. However, the board noted in its response to comments, that was not true: a KKK Grand Wizard had convened rallies in another town to the north, Cohoctah Township, reported the Daily Press & Argus on Nov. 9.

McDowell received a brief suspension and a letter of reprimand that read in part, "You went on to discipline two students who told you they do not accept gays due to their religion. After a failure of getting one student to recant, you engaged in an unsupported snap suspension, rather than allow the student his beliefs."

The letter added, "You also state you routinely do not allow this expression [the Confederate flag] in your classroom because it offends you, and you personally connect this symbol to a list of oppressions and atrocities. You do, however, allow the display of the rainbow flag, to which some of your students have voiced opposition."

McDowell responded in his own statement that there are no rainbow flags in his classroom--only the American flag. Moreover, McDowell noted that restrictions on the Confederate flag were not limited to his own classroom: "the district has for the last year asked students to remove Confederate flags that have flown from the back of cars and trucks in the school parking lot," McDowell's statement said.

"The reprimand states that the wearing of the Confederate flag and the statement, 'I don't accept gays,' did not cause a substantial disruption to the educational process and, therefore, I violated the students' First Amendment rights," McDowell's statement continued. "I disagree. I believe any symbol or speech that can cause a student to sit in fear in the classroom whether or not there is an outward show of that fear is by its very nature a disruption to the educational process." McDowell went on to say that he had abided by school district policies and emphasized that he did not punish the student for his religious beliefs or political opinions, but rather sent him out of the room for disruptive behavior.

Agreeing (or not) to Disagree

The school district did not waver. "These violations created adverse reactions, were not in the best interests of your students, and will not be tolerated," district officials told McDowell. The teacher was ordered to attend a First Amendment Rights training and punished with a one-day unpaid suspension.

McDowell's supporters spoke out from the start, beginning with the teachers' union, of which Howell is the president. "The Howell Education Association is dismayed that administrators have chosen to suspend and reprimand a teacher for upholding Howell High School's very mission statement," stated the teachers' union. "We, the Howell Education Association, are proud that Mr. McDowell has the moral fiber and integrity to stand up to intolerant speech, as well as symbols of hate in our community and in our classroom."

"The student was speaking out on being offended by the gay and lesbian lifestyle because it's against his religion," Howell Public Schools Superintendent Ron Wilson said, according to local newspaper the Daily Press & Argus on Oct. 29. "The teacher said that wasn't appropriate."

Added Wilson, "All the student was doing was voicing an opinion. The same thing would have been done had the student been on the other side. As superintendent, it's my responsibility to foster fair, respectful treatment of all staff and students, and the teacher didn't do that."

Wilson went on to say that several parents had emailed him to claim that their children had been harassed at school for not wearing purple shirts. Wilson suggested that those alleged incidents of harassment were examples of bullying.

Meantime, Glowacki sought to set the record straight after rumors started up that he was prejudiced against gays, the Daily Press & Argus reported in an Oct. 28 follow-up article. "I don't really care what people think, but I don't want people to think I'm against gays," the young man told the press. "That's just not true."

A number of McDowell's supporters urged the board to reverse the disciplinary action against McDowell. The board, however, has no power to do so. A Nov. 15 public forum has been scheduled to accommodate those who wish to speak for or against the disciplinary measures taken against McDowell, the Daily Press & Argus reported on Nov. 7. "Our hope is that people will take the opportunity to voice their concerns at the forum," Wilson told the media. "We know people are going to want to comment on the issue, but it's not really a matter for the board to vote on. What it really comes down to is (McDowell) believes his discipline is unmerited, and the district disagrees."

One blogger went online to espouse the belief that social issues should generally not have a place in the classroom. "Schools aren't the place for social issue agendas sanctioned by government," a Nov. 13 posting at Republican Michigander wrote. "That means Superintendents, Principals, other administrators, or teachers. That goes regardless of which side of the issue. Gay rights agendas and anti gay rights agendas do not belong there. Reading, writing, math, history, and science belong there. Facts belong there."

Added the blog, "The perception here is that 'tolerance' means follow the left's agenda and the MEA's agenda. Period.... Jay McDowell could have stood up for true tolerance. He failed. Instead, he, as a fairly high ranked big fish in the small pond government official using the power of authority, bullied and was intolerant to views he doesn't care for." The blog then outlined what the author said would have been an acceptable sequence of events, in which the instructor would have addressed the Confederate flag and its meanings, the religious beliefs held by some that oppose gays, and the recent media attention to GLBT youth suicides.

"McDowell's actions, ironically were the same type of actions as those he claims to oppose--Bullying actions," the blog added. "McDowell was rightly disciplined. Tolerance includes tolerating views that one does not personally support. That's something the left has a major problem grasping."

The notion that McDowell was bullying students in his classroom was also advanced by a blogger who contributed a posting to Livingston Daily.com on Nov. 11. "The student who stood up for his rights, Daniel Glowacki, deserves much credit," the blog posting read. "It is hard to stand as one and exercise free speech against such opposition. I applaud his courage. In doing so, he has stood for many and opened up truth."

Differing Perspectives

But others sharply dissented. One blogger posted a Nov. 9 comment saying that a Livingston Daily article on the controversy "did nothing but assert Mr. McDowell as an evil, intolerant bully. Ironic, due to the fact that he is an empathetic leader defending a suffering minority, who live in fear every day of their lives, as shown with the recent rise in gay students being bullied to the point of suicide.

"Mr. McDowell was acting appropriately, and he has the quick-growing support of many online and in the community as we recently started a Support Jay McDowell page on Facebook. In a couple of days, we have grown to over 300 members, and it won't stop there," the posting added. "We will not stop until Howell comes out of the dark ages, and leaves its shady, racist, hateful past in the dust."

That Facebook page was co-created by Phil Letten, a resident of Howell, who told the Daily Press & Argus, "We have these people in authority in our schools who are perpetuating a culture of bullying and intolerance and fear and violence, and I just find it absolutely disgusting. No kid should be living in fear in our community, especially in our schools." Added Letten, "I personally will not be satisfied until all the people in authority who are responsible for his suspension either resign or step down."

Wilson told the publication that gay online publication Queerty.com had picked up the story and he had received more than 700 emails as a result. However strongly people may fell about the issue from a moral or civil perspective, however, "this really is a labor issue. It's very cut-and-dried," Wilson told the newspaper.

The online community has not been entirely kind toward Glowacki, according to the young man's mother, who told the press that, "The things people have been saying online about my son have been terrible," said Glowacki's mother, Sandy. "My son is being bullied. This is the United States of America. Just because someone has a different opinion doesn't mean they're a bad person." Added the student's mother, "My son is not a bigot. He has a very diverse group of friends that includes some gays. If a gay student was being picked on in class, he'd stick up for them."

According to Glowacki, he disputed McDowell's instruction to the classmate who wore the Confederate belt buckle by pointing out that several students, and McDowell himself, were wearing purple clothing. Glowacki pointed out that the purple garments and the belt buckle were both examples of political expression. However, Glowacki said, the teacher told him that the Confederate flag stood for racist violence. According to Glowacki, McDowell then told the student that if he had something against gays, he could leave.

"I never said I was against gays, but I did leave the class," said the young man. "I got a referral [a citation for misconduct] and had to talk to the assistant principal, but that was it." Referrals go into a student's permanent file. Glowacki's referral was later expunged from his record.

The controversy over anti-gay bullying, safe school environments, and gay and gay-supportive teachers has been ongoing in recent months. During his campaign for re-election, South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint repeated an assertion he had made in 2004 that gays and sexually active women should be barred from teaching. In Oregon, a student teacher was pulled out of a school last month for explaining that he was not married because legally he and his same-sex partner are not allowed to wed. The student teacher was eventually allowed to return to his original student teaching assignment.