MADISONVILLE, Tenn. — Nathan Carroll, a Tennessee high school senior, has been bullied most of his life for being gay. The openly-gay teen attends Sequoyah High School in Madisonville, Tenn., and recently decided a Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) is needed at his school.
Nathan Carroll
Nathan started a petition at his school to get support to start the GSA, while kids opposing it started a similar petition.
But despite Nathan’s efforts, and the nearly 150 teens who’ve signed the petition, when he brought it to Principal Maurice Moser, he was threatened with suspension should he proceed in trying to form the GSA.
Additionally, the Principal said that any students found with one of Nathan’s petitions would have the petition torn up and thrown away and that they be sent immediately to his office for further punishment.
Of course, students are legally allowed to start the club should they find an adviser, and Director of Schools Mike Lowry said the students “would be treated fairly,” according to this report by WBIR-TV:
On Friday, I spoke with Principal Moser, who said that students were having verbal arguments about the potential Gay Straight Alliance, and it was “disturbing the educational environment.”
He went on to say that he was exercising his rights as principal to then stop the petitions and all discussions of the GSA forming.
Asked if he also considered bullying a “disturbance to the educational environment,” Moser replied that if a student reports it and has sufficient proof that they were bullied, then the bullies are “dealt with accordingly.”
Moser said the process to form a club requires a faculty sponsor, and that students were having trouble finding one for the GSA.
He then explained that a faculty sponsor for several clubs had transferred schools this summer, and that he had spent a good deal of time recruiting faculty members to fill in the holes left by the former faculty member.
But when asked why he did not assist the students in finding a sponsor for the GSA, Moser said wouldn’t “force” any faculty member to sponsor the GSA, that he only assisted existing clubs, and could never help find a sponsor for a new club.
Moser’s disdain for the students trying to start a GSA came through several times during our conversation, and he implied more than once that his rights as a principal of a high school trumped the rights of students trying to fight bullying and anti-gay harassment.
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Woww!
This young man is extremely brave and courageous! Kudos to you, Nathan!
if i were president…
my mom wont even let me join GSA at school… ugh. homophobes…
Load of garbage. I hope this principal gets fired for his bigotry and hateful attitude.
Dont give up! They cant keep you from starting it. Law says if they reject you they have to close all non school related clubs. I just started one at my school last year. with the help of a teacher
Someone please tell me how many more children have to die before this bigotry comes to an end. Also, for the religious fanatics who claim to be “pro-life” where are you? Do the lives of the children being bullied to death matter to you or is it that only fetuses count as life?
They need an advisor?? Elect me! I will stand for the GSA! I support this! The harassment needs to end and end now! Its getting stupider by the day that just because a person is not straight, they cant have any rights! They have just as much rights as the next person in line!
fucking ridiculous that they threatened to suspend…aren’t schools supposed to support diversity stuff…its sickening
Holy shit. I ran into some trouble when I tried to start a GSA at my school, but nothing like this. Homophobes need to get a life already.
time for some civil disobedience in TN!
Something needs to be done about this dammit. How are they supposed to get proof of someone bullying them? Its their word vs. the bullys. And with a discriminative Principle like that, these kids don’t stand a chance. He needs to be fired from the school system for not treating all students equally and fairly. School are supposed to be SAFE places. unfuckinbelievable
My school has a wonderful gay straight alliance :) started be a teacher :) older kids talk to freshmen about it at orientation, and they have meetings and inform the school about things such as April 15′s day of silence :) and many teachers have pink ally triangles on their bullitin boards. However this is in pennsylvania, and only started last year.
perhaps the kid should start a petition against his principal hmmm?
make it a Facebook petition too lol
Red State madness!
My heart goes out to them, but I’m glad they have in fact found each other, it can make this sort of stuff easier.
Really? I go to a Catholic highschool in one of the not so lgbt-savvy parts of Toronto.
We have a GSA and strict rules as to not discriminate or you will be expelled.
Why cant people hop on the rainbow train and accept that not everyone is the same?
Please sign the petition asking for the Monroe County School system to permit a GSA at Sequoyah High School. Make the petition even more powerful by writing a thoughtful and respectful message about why you are signing. And please ask all your friends to sign as well!
Petition Link: http://chn.ge/sqhgsa
You can also post messages of support to the kids on their facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Gaystraight-Alliance-Sequoyah-HIGH-School/182724315133815
The fact that such stories of bravery in the face of blatant discrimination in schools across the country have become widely publicized means two things: this principal just ended his own career by going on record as a bigot, and by standing up for equality this young man just became a hero. I’m sending a letter to the school board to support this student and express my outrage at the administration’s oppressive stance. Who’s with me?!
What is WRONG with people?!?
He’s brave. He’s gonna have a good life.
I have emailed the principal (Maurice Moser, [email protected]) and director of schools (Mike Lowry, [email protected]) and have mailed a letter to the chairman of the school board of education (Dr. Larry Stein, 601 Morris Street Sweetwater, TN 37874) to express my support for Nathan Carroll and my outrage at the principal’s actions. I hope others will do the same.
@Lukas: Not if he gets hurt for this. Perhaps he should spend time pursuing wider political change rather than simply calling upon attention to non-normative sexual tastes.
“non-normative sexual tastes.” tastes? that’s like sexual choice right????
Paul could you clarity and explain your statement for us?
I grew up in Mississippi. The rest of the country can have all the forward-thinking ideals it wants but when you’re stuck in the Bible Belt, it’s like you’re in another country where all that “Yankee” stuff is just something on tv that your preacher rails about on Sunday. In other words, Nathan, I understand how surrounded you are & I think you’ve got major guts & I support you all the way! Don’t let them get inside your head! You are doing the right things!