Don’t Force Utah Elementary Schoolers To Play In The Sandbox Next To Pro-Gay Signs!
Some residents in Utah County, a scary place if you’ve ever been, just can’t bear to see innocent children go to Art City Elementary School every day while signs promoting messages of tolerance — in a faulty albeit well-meaning attempt to battle gay suicides — remain posted to a neighbor’s fence. The school has been receiving “boatloads” of phone calls, says Lana Hiskey of the Nebo School District (and the executive director of the Nebo Education Foundation). The district “is very concerned about the content of the signs and it’s not (that) his beliefs are different from other peoples,” says Hiskey. “It’s that the content on the signs is adult in nature.” Hah!
The signs, posted by local resident Leonard Ridley and facing the school’s playground, came about after he learned of the rash of gay suicides. He wanted to send a message to “contradict the mistaken ideas” that local bigots have. Ridley’s 10-year-old step-granddaughter, who attends Art City Elementary, was called into the school’s office and “harassed,” says Ridley; the school insists it was just checking to see if she felt safe at the school.
All the controversy (hah!) meant a city code enforcement officer was dispatched to the scene — ultimately declaring the signs don’t violate local code, but they are too large, so Ridley will rotate through the signs. How about adding a new one, just for Ms. Hiskey? “Bigots aren’t born bigots. You can change!”
Yeeeeaaaah, a county full of members of a church that wouldn’t even allow blacks full membership until around 1980 and that was only after massively bad P.R. thinks that signs saying “Don’t Bully Gays” are “Adult” in nature.
What I really love about this guy, is, he is the Mormons worst nightmare, they usually oporate by trying to keep things quiet…they would have the step grandaughter harassed and then insinuate that he could stop that by taking down his signs. They don’t know how to handle somebody that turns right around to the press and says “Yeah, and they Harrassed my step granddaughter.” LOL!!!
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“Stop Gay Suicide” is age inappropriate? Aren’t some of the gay kids killing themselves Elementary School aged? Do these people know how stupid they make themselves look? Sometimes I look at all of the hate and I say is it really worth it? Why care about the future of this country, when the majority has shown time and time again that we are irrelevant? But then it is stories like this that make me realize that the future looks bright, in spite of the will of the “Right”.
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Religion kills folks. Religion KILLS. It’s killed directly throughout history and today it is indirectly killing our gay youth…and look, it’s followers have no remorse about it or reversing their own message to be a more loving, inclusive, accepting one.
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Oh! Ridley how awful you are despite your good intentions.
Don’t you know that children must be protected from such adult topics until they have undergone ridicule, bullying and a few suicide attempts thereby demonstrating that they have developed character and full control over their sinful hormone induced urges.
Reality is too harsh for children …. and too many adults come to that.
Good on yer.