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Libertarian dad sues school district over Pride flags in classroom, thanks to Don't Say Gay law [1]
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Date: 2022-10-28
As reported by local outlet WPTV, parent Dr. Francisco ‘Frank’ Deliu filed a lawsuit against the Palm Beach County School District on Oct. 12, where Emerald Cove Middle School, principal Dr. Eugina Smith-Freeman, and teacher Rachel Raos are named. Deliu is seeking a jury trial for the suit. As of now, a hearing is scheduled for Nov. 1.
Deliu’s argument is that his son’s teacher displayed two “gay pride” flags in her classroom. When a student asked about the flags in September, she allegedly “proselytized” about “homosexual lifestyles” to her students. Deliu is evoking the Don’t Say Gay bill (which went into effect in July) to defend the suit and, per the lawsuit, wants to teach his 12-year-old child about “homosexual lifestyle choices” at home.
According to The Advocate, the lawsuit issues grievances against COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, mask-wearing, social distancing, and mandates for vaccines. The suit mentions that Deliu identifies as a libertarian.
According to the suit, Deliu says he asked the school to move him to a different class shortly after the discussion about the pride flags. However, Deliu reportedly asked the school to move his son to a different computer science class but says his child was moved into an art class. He felt frustrated the art class wouldn’t benefit his middle-schooler’s “career.”
Deliu, who told WPTV his family is Christian-Orthodox, says in the suit he does not believe being queer is in “accordance with their Bible.” He believes the public school system does not have the authority to teach about “gay pride, homosexuality or the like.”
"I felt that was improper because I don't send my child to that school to be taught homosexuality and taught gay pride," told the outlet, adding that he “thought” children went to school to learn how to read, write, and do math.
Sigh.
We saw this coming, or at least, knew it was possible. The proliferation of Don’t Say Gay bills and hyperfocus on trans folks sets the stage for disturbing bigotry to rear its head in the name of fairness and protecting children. Children aren’t being protected by learning that LGBTQ+ people are predatory monsters. They certainly aren’t being protected from anything by learning hate and discrimination. But for as long as people in power are pushing rhetoric and measures that do isolate and ostracize queer folks, it’s inevitable people in the general public will try to use it as evidence that their hate is coming from a perfectly fine place.
The 2022 midterms are just around the corner, and you sent us a ton of fantastic questions for this week’s episode of The Downballot .
Among the many topics we cover: which states are likely to report results slowly—and how will those results change over time; the House districts that look like key bellwethers for how the night might go, and which might offer surprises; why and how Democrats make the hard decisions on which races to triage; the top legislative chambers to keep an eye on; and plenty more!
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[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/10/28/2131923/-Libertarian-dad-sues-school-district-over-Pride-flags-in-classroom-thanks-to-Don-t-Say-Gay-law
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