Whitman Braces Graciously
Here's the letter that the principal of Walt Whitman High School is sending home with students, regarding the possible protest at their school by the "God Hates Fags" people.
It seems to me that the principal made this statement as clearly and eloquently as it could be made. He is candid with the students, he seems unafraid of confronting the controversy directly and taking sides, there is a lot of important information here, and it sets a tone that will affect all students' behaviors. This is the way to do it.
Alan Goodwin
Principal, Whitman High School
Walt Whitman High School
7100 Whittier Blvd.
Bethesda, Maryland 20817
301-320-6600
March 24, 2009
Dear Parents, Guardians, and Students:
Towards the end of May 2009, a statue of Walt Whitman will be placed in Moscow, Russia. His statue will be the first statue of an American ever placed on Russian soil. As one of our most recognized poets and voices of the American spirit, it is a refreshing and fitting choice. In his poetry, Whitman celebrates individual spirit, celebrates our nation as the center of democratic values, and celebrates nature. Unfortunately, there is a small group of persons who want to defile his name because Walt Whitman may have been homosexual. I tell you this because on April 24, 2009, there is a possibility that members of this small group may appear near our school to protest that our school is named after Walt Whitman. The protesters are from Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas. This group has announced anti-gay demonstrations throughout the nation before but has rarely shown up. The protesters will not be allowed on school grounds, and there will be a police presence to ensure that our school remains safe from such an intrusion and that there is no disruption to school operations. Our school embraces all members of our school community and has no tolerance for those spreading messages of hate. I regret that this protest may upset our students and staff, if it even occurs, but such events are sanctioned by law. Please be assured that we are working with the school system and the Montgomery County Police Department to ensure any potential protest is not disruptive. We will not allow this small group of people to besmirch the namesake of our school or our community. We will have a normal school day and live up to the ideals and the spirit embodied by Walt Whitman.
Sincerely,
Alan Goodwin
Principal
It seems to me that the principal made this statement as clearly and eloquently as it could be made. He is candid with the students, he seems unafraid of confronting the controversy directly and taking sides, there is a lot of important information here, and it sets a tone that will affect all students' behaviors. This is the way to do it.
posted by JimK at 9:39 PM
26 Comments:
the hyperbole is amazing
"braces", as if a shock wave from an interstellar explosion is approaching the planet
give it up, Jim
no one cares
if you really wanted to marginalize the group, you'd ignore them
You are still a mess, AnonBigot.
I student taught at Whitman and can assure you that Dr. Goodwin is a great man.
It just goes to show that we don´t tolerate hate in MoCo Public Schools even if AnonBigot´s pals at the CRC-G welcome it with open arms.
you're a mess of poor reading skills, Derrick
scary to think you've taught students
I didn't mention the principal, you idiot
I said Jim has been hyping this
I think it's fine for the prinicpal to attempt to notify students of a scheduled protest
btw, we haven't metioned this but although I generally find this group that's coming to be engaged in some despicable stuff, they may have a legitimate issue this time
if Whitman was gay, and I've never heard that he was before, perhaps some parents don't want their tax-funded schools to be named after homosexuals
it's not ridiculous to say the students will assume that, if we name a school after someone, we're elevating them to role model status
so, if some parents consider homosexuality immoral, why shouldn't they object to elevating a homosexual to role model status?
it's not quite the same as picketing funerals which virtually everyone agrees is in bad taste
Anon, we're just a little local activist blog here, I don't think we are giving the "Got Hates Fags" people publicity, I am just letting our community know what is going on. On the other hand, bloggers like Oliver Willis and Alternate Brain reach a lot more people than we do, and I think the Washington Post might even have more readers that the TTF blog. There will be publicity.
Our readers want to know what's going on and what the response will be.
JimK
What does a church group from Kansas have to do with the name of an MCPS school that has existed since 1962? Do members of the Westboro Baptist Church live and pay taxes in Montgomery County Maryland?
If not, they have no business here. They should keep their hate in their own jurisdiction so their tax dollars pay for the police presence needed to keep students "safe from ... intrusion and ... disruption to school operations."
Oh, I generally agree Bea, that this is kind of stupid, having someone from Kansas protesting an MCPS school.
Even if it is conclusively proven that Whitman is gay, I still don't mean to say I support this protest.
Still, this:
"They should keep their hate in their own jurisdiction so their tax dollars pay for the police presence needed to keep students "safe from ... intrusion and ... disruption to school operations.""
is a fascist argument.
People can't protest because the county imagines, without evidence, that they'll disrupt school operations?
So, if any government wants to quiet dissent, they can simply accuse the dissenters of being disruptive per se and say the cost of monitoring them is too high?
Freedom of speech won't last long that way.
Another TTFer sides with fascism and against democracy in the pursuit of the gay agenda.
Ah yes, barryo is out of arguments so stoops to the "fascist" personal attack, once again.
You have such tolerance for hate you seem to not mind having your MoCo tax dollars spent defending MCPS students from out of state nuts.
Glub glub glub, circling the drain.
Obviously you are still a mess, AnonBigot.
The entire blog post was about the principal´s letter!
You usually post something having NOTHING to do with the original topic at hand.
Yes, you´re still a mess- don´t worry, at least you still have that.
I´m off to Guatemala for the weekend. I hope everyone has a restful end-of-the-week.
¡Saludos cordiales!
"The entire blog post was about the principal´s letter!"
No, it was about continuing to focus on extremists to associate them with their opponents.
It's a common deceptive tactic of Teach Them "Facts", Inc.
"Ah yes, barryo is out of arguments so stoops to the "fascist" personal attack, once again."
Not a personal attack. If I wanted to attack you personally, I'd call you a crazy old bat.
The fascist charge is valid. Saying dissent is disruptive and an unreasonable inconvenience on society puts you in the same company with the thugs that rule China.
They say stuff like that all the time.
N.B.: Anon agrees with the WBC.
That says it all.
rrjr
Anon, I want to thank you for making these points on the TTF blog for us. Our readers would never believe that people like you exist if you didn't come here day after day and prove the fact.
First of all, I would have thought that the Citizens for Responsible Whatever find the "God Hates Fags" people to be extreme and loathsome, but you actually agree with them that it is reasonable to protest that a school has been named after a possibly-gay person. Our TTF readers will find your opinion informative.
Second, your assertion that posting information about the "God Hates Fags" Baptists coming from Kansas to demonstrate at one of our county's schools is actually a tactic "to associate them with [our] opponents" is revealing. As I said, I would have thought that "our opponents" would be disgusted by the sentiments of this group, as we are -- you have proved me wrong in that assumption. At any rate, we have not tried to connect our local rightwing radicals with the "God Hates Fags" Baptists, beyond the fact that we disagree with both groups.
Finally, it is especially poignant for you to suggest that opposing hate is fascist. We are not depriving anyone of any rights or even saying that the "God Hates Fags" people should not protest in our county. But we have the right to express our views as well. No one here said that "dissent is disruptive and an unreasonable inconvenience on society," and no one that I know of believes that. Dissent is fun, it is important for people to express their ideas publicly so we can have open debate. We just happen to think that some people's ideas are wrong.
JimK
Jim has it just right.
Also, just to toss something else into the mix, it would never occur to me to protest the name of Herbert Hoover Middle School in Potomac, notwithstanding my view that his economic policies led to the Crash of 19029 and the ensuing Depression.
FDR didn't do any better, David.
It's just a case of the victor writing history.
"Anon, I want to thank you for making these points on the TTF blog for us."
Well, you say this from time to time and then you'll be threatening to block me before long.
"but you actually agree with them that it is reasonable to protest that a school has been named after a possibly-gay person"
I don't think anyone has much of a problem with it. I think people take umbrage to protesting at funerals and the "God Hates Fags" thing is offensive. My only point is that this is not in the same league.
"Second, your assertion that posting information about the "God Hates Fags" Baptists coming from Kansas to demonstrate at one of our county's schools is actually a tactic "to associate them with [our] opponents" is revealing."
Not really. Just stating the obvious.
"Finally, it is especially poignant for you to suggest that opposing hate is fascist."
Well, I didn't do that.
I said to falsely claim that a group will disrupt the operation of a school because you don't like their message and to cite the expense of indulging your false claim is a reason to oppose the demonstration is a circular argument of a dangerous type often employed by repressive regimes.
The desire to outlaw or forbid opposing speech is a deep vein in the cavern wall of the gay agenda.
another gay going to jail:
"In protest of California's Proposition 8 passing, and essentially outlawing gay marriage, Melissa Etheridge stated publicly that she was not going to pay any state taxes. Her theory was that if she isn’t granted the same rights as other citizens (i.e. the right to marry the person she loves, regardless of gender) then she isn’t a "full" citizen and has no obligation to pay taxes."
Yeah buddy, straight people never refuse to pay their taxes.
(eye roll)
barryo blathered ...to falsely claim that a group will disrupt the operation of a school because you don't like their message and to cite the expense of indulging your false claim is a reason to oppose the demonstration is a circular argument of a dangerous type often employed by repressive regimes.
I didn't hear you criticizing the McCain campaign when they would not allow people wearing anti-war or anti-GOP tee shirts to attend their rallies because they didn't like their message and because they falsely claimed those people would disrupt their event.
Librarian Booted From McCain Event in Denver
Pre-emptive Ejection: Audience members removed at McCain rally in Cedar Falls
We all remember the cases when Bush held public (paid for by tax dollar) events and refused access to people who had an anti-war bumper sticker on their car or wore anti-war tee shirts, which are much less "disruptive" than people screaming hateful messages and carrying huge signs saying "GOD HATES FAGS." I don't remember you complaining about Bush doing that, barryo, although some conservatives saw the harm Bush was doing to the Constitutional guarantee of free speech.
The American Conservative wrote:
On Dec. 6, 2001, Attorney General John Ashcroft informed the Senate Judiciary Committee, “To those who scare peace-loving people with phantoms of lost liberty … your tactics only aid terrorists, for they erode our national unity and … give ammunition to America’s enemies.” Some commentators feared that Ashcroft’s statement, which was vetted beforehand by top lawyers at the Justice Department, signaled that this White House would take a far more hostile view towards opponents than did recent presidents. And indeed, some Bush administration policies indicate that Ashcroft’s comment was not a mere throwaway line.
When Bush travels around the United States, the Secret Service visits the location ahead of time and orders local police to set up “free speech zones” or “protest zones” where people opposed to Bush policies (and sometimes sign-carrying supporters) are quarantined. These zones routinely succeed in keeping protesters out of presidential sight and outside the view of media covering the event.
When Bush came to the Pittsburgh area on Labor Day 2002, 65-year-old retired steel worker Bill Neel was there to greet him with a sign proclaiming, “The Bush family must surely love the poor, they made so many of us.” The local police, at the Secret Service’s behest, set up a “designated free-speech zone” on a baseball field surrounded by a chain-link fence a third of a mile from the location of Bush’s speech. The police cleared the path of the motorcade of all critical signs, though folks with pro-Bush signs were permitted to line the president’s path. Neel refused to go to the designated area and was arrested for disorderly conduct; the police also confiscated his sign. Neel later commented, “As far as I’m concerned, the whole country is a free speech zone. If the Bush administration has its way, anyone who criticizes them will be out of sight and out of mind.”
...Is the administration seeking to stifle domestic criticism? Absolutely. Is it carrying out a war on dissent? Probably not—yet. But the trend lines in federal attacks on freedom of speech should raise grave concerns to anyone worried about the First Amendment...
A couple of years later, the ACLU filed a lawsuit, which uncovered a manual from the Bush Administration detailing its tactics for suppressing protests at presidential appearances. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of two people from Colorado who were forcibly removed from a presidential "Town Hall Meeting" because their car had a bumper sticker that said, "No more blood for oil." They have obtained a copy of the "Presidential Advance Manual," which details tactics "to stop a demonstrator from getting into the event." A section titled "Preventing Demonstrators" advises event organizers to recruit local Republicans into "Rally Squads" whose "task is to use their signs and banners as shields between the demonstrators and the main press platform. If the demonstrators are yelling, rally squads can begin and lead supportive chants to drown out the protestors [sic] (USA! USA! USA!) As a last resort, security should remove the protestors from the event site.
An ACLU press release reported The lawsuit names as plaintiffs Jeff and Nicole Rank, who were arrested at a Fourth of July presidential appearance at the West Virginia State Capitol because they were wearing t-shirts critical of the president, and Alex Young and Leslie Weise, Denver residents who were thrown out of a town hall meeting with President Bush because they had an anti-war bumper sticker on their car.
So tell us barryo, do you have a problem with MCPS using the Presidential Advance Manual to handle the Westboro Baptist Church GOD HATES FAGS protesters?
What is it with you, "Anonymous"? When you make such a ridiculous, childish, bigoted, and incendiary statement as: "The desire to outlaw or forbid opposing speech is a deep vein in the cavern wall of the gay agenda." do you really expect readers here to give you ANY CREDIBILITY at all?
You constantly allude to the mythological "gay agenda" (placing it on the same level as so-called agenda found in "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" (see: http://www.holocaust-history.org/short-essays/protocols.shtml) as an intended device to incite hatred)in your vain attempts to persuade anybody who reads your rants to accept your egotistical writings as truth. That is truly delusional!!
There have been repeated requests here for you to "cease and desist".
Do us all a favor and focus your rants on one of your lunatic right-wing "family" web sites. They would give you the adoration you so ardently seek.
RT
"So tell us barryo, do you have a problem with MCPS"
As I've explained to Her Crazy Battiness, I don't have any objection with anything I've heard MCPS is doing.
I have trouble with Her Crazy Battiness objecting to the protest because of the police costs to monitor it.
This anti-gay group, while often engaging in verbally offensive speech, has not done anything disruptive. If the county feels a police presence is necessary, it must be because they are afraid the gay lunatic fringe may show and engage in some type of intimidation, similar to their attempts to disrupt peaceful citizens petitioning in the past.
It's not unreasonable for the county to pay to control the activities of the county's gay lunatic fringe.
"There have been repeated requests here for you to "cease and desist"."
You're really afraid of words, aren't you?
"Do us all a favor and focus your rants on one of your lunatic right-wing "family" web sites. They would give you the adoration you so ardently seek."
How irrational of you, Artie.
Obviously, I'm not seeking adoration.
"Anonymous" - who pays you a salary to post your drivel here? Are you an employee of Focus on the Family? or PFOX? Perhaps American Family Association or Traditional Values Coalition?
You are a professional blogger...regardless of who pays you. Who else has the time and luxury of posting in here over and over and over and over? I hope you will challenge my assertion that you are a paid blogger!
Stupid comments like "Another TTFer sides with fascism and against democracy in the pursuit of the gay agenda." come straight from the playbook of one of these lunatic right-wing fringe groups. Maybe you are a speech writer for that clown, Glenn Beck?
It is likely that you are not even a resident of Montgomery County.
No one else here suffers as much diarrhea of the mouth as you. You have virtually pirated this blog site. And you still believe that what you have to say is important. You are either a slow learner or a supreme egoist who is totally oblivious to polite discourse and good manners.
I agree with Jim's assessment of you: "Anon, I want to thank you for making these points on the TTF blog for us. Our readers would never believe that people like you exist if you didn't come here day after day and prove the fact."
If you are not seeking "adoration" (self) what are you seeking then?
"Artie"
This anti-gay group, while often engaging in verbally offensive speech, has not done anything disruptive.
Michelle Malkin disagrees:
The execrable Fred Phelps and his “church” continue to disrupt the funerals of fallen soldiers across the country.
She linked to an update on Fred Phelp's attempt to disrupt the funeral of a fallen soldier.
Greyhawk noted: "You'll probably appreciate the actions of the police and fire departments, who likely did the best they could to prevent a family's grief being disrupted by a circus.
Being disruptive is what Phelps and his family is all about. MCPS students should be protected from all groups that want to create disruption at their school. I'm with the Patriot Guard and believe people (not only grieving people, but students in school too) need to be shielded from "interruptions created by any protestor or group of protestors."
The gay agenda for today:
Laundry
Call mother
Grade quizzes
Destroy marriage
Ride bike
Budget for April
Dishes
Eliminate free speech in America
Bills
Shave
Shower
Disrupt Western Civilization
Lesson Plans
Vacuum
Gym (maybe)
Wash car
Violate the laws of God and nature
Ironing
A busy day, you must admit.
Once again, you skip breakfast.
Robert, your agenda appalls me.
Aunt Bea,
Thanks for the link of the 61 year old librarian getting booted. I recall that Bill Clinton as President,tried to make it possible for everyone to have their say, and as such could give back as much as he could take. I wish all other candidates and elected officials would follow the example he set in this regard. This librarian is an example of courage that I hope President Obama will follow, and will make sure that not just those that agree with him and his policies have a right to free speech.
You're welcome, Orin. Obama has long requested input from various sides of an issue so I think your wish stands a good change of being met. I'm not aware of Obama keeping people who disagree with him away from his appearances (if anyone is, please provide a link to evidence of it) but I do remember the "controversy" he caused when he invited both Rick Warren and Joseph Lowery to address his inauguration. I'm with you on this one Orin. I hope the press won't continue to label reaching out to all sides "controversial," and that all our elected leaders whether local, state, or national will follow his example and listen to input from all stakeholders.
Typo alert...that should read "good chance" although IMHO Obama is bringing about "good change."
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