XPost: alt.gossip.celebrities, alt.politics.democrats.d, sac.general   
   XPost: alt.rush-limbaugh   
   From: bankrupt-liars-and-damned-near-out-of-business@nytimes.com   
      
   A teacher in Texas says he was targeted for firing because he’s   
   gay, but the school district claims, without providing   
   specifics, that it’s because he sent an inapprpropriate text to   
   a student.   
      
   Dr. Josh Hamilton has been teaching professional communications   
   and college readiness for three years at Grapevine High School   
   in Texas. He also coached speech teams that won state and   
   national championships.   
      
   According to The Star-Telegram, Hamilton was helping students   
   prepare for a speech competition hosted at the school in   
   September when he talked about being openly gay. He meant it as   
   a motivational speech, he says, describing his struggles with   
   mental health issues and how he emerged happily as a gay man.   
      
   "I was like heck, you guys watched me struggle for years through   
   my own mental health battles, because that what it was, and come   
   out on the other side of that has a happy functioning gay man,"   
   he told KXAS news.   
      
   The next day, he says, school officials called him in for   
   questioning about what he shared with the students, and asked to   
   review his cellphone use. He turned the phone over, saying he   
   had “nothing to hide.”   
      
   Following that, he was placed on administrative leave. This   
   week, Grapevine-Colleyville ISD board members voted unanimously   
   fire him for violating the district’s texting policy. The policy   
   prohibits employees from communicating with students via   
   personal accounts.   
      
   At a school board meeting, human resources executive director   
   Gema Padgett said, "Dr. Hamilton violated the standards by   
   developing inappropriate relationships with students, providing   
   inappropriate information to the students concerning his   
   personal life, through text messages, treating students as   
   family members or close friends and providing inappropriate   
   personal information to the students.”   
      
   The district has not elaborated on what Hamilton is alleged to   
   have said in the text messages.   
      
   For his part, Hamilton says, he sent text messages to a student   
   who babysat his son, but says there was nothing inappropriate   
   about the communications.   
      
   According to a statement from Kristin Snively, a spokesperson   
   for the school district, “Mr. Hamilton’s sexual orientation has   
   absolutely nothing to do with the reason Mr. Hamilton has been   
   proposed for termination.” She added that the firing was due to   
   “violations of the District’s electronic communications policy,   
   violations of student privacy, failure to follow written   
   directives, and violations of the Texas Educator’s Code of   
   Ethics.”   
      
   Hamilton says he’ll appeal the decision to the Texas Education   
   Agency, which would entitle him to a due process hearing. His   
   hope is that he can retain his teaching job.   
      
   "Sitting in the board room and hearing her use the word   
   ‘inappropriate, inappropriate, inappropriate’ painted me to the   
   public as a child predator," Hamilton said. "This has been the   
   worst experience of my life.”   
      
   You made the decision to be gay.   
      
   You also made the decision to attempt to groom children to be   
   gay.   
      
   You deserve no sympathy.   
      
   Keep your unwanted degenerate lifestyle to yourself.   
      
   https://www.out.com/news/2019/10/25/texas-school-moves-fire-   
   teacher-after-he-came-out-   
   students?utm_source=advoca   
   te.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=pubexchange_module   
          
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)