Members of the Ku Klux Klan and representatives from the Supreme White Alliance rallied at Augusta State University on Saturday to protest the school’s action in requiring one of its graduate students to complete remediation courses regarding homosexuality.
“We are here for the Constitution of the United States that this country was founded on, and which we believe is being violated by the actions of Augusta State University,” said (self-identified) Imperial Klaliff David Webster, at Saturday’s rally. “Why should any institution be allowed to enforce their ethics on anybody?”
The permit said 100 Ku Klux Klan members in hoods would be standing outside the gates of Augusta State University between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. Oct. 23 to protest the faculty’s alleged embrace of LGBT issues. [GA Voice]
Instead, one dozen bedraggled-looking men in fatigues marched onto the lawn, shouted for about a half hour and left, leaving over 200 counter-protesters wondering what all the fuss had been about.
Jennifer Keeton, who is pursuing a master’s degree in counseling, said she was ordered to undergo a re-education plan that requires her to attend “diversity sensitivity training” when the school told her that her anti-gay beliefs are incompatible with the standards of her desired profession.
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The news you care about, reported on by the people who care about you.Keeton has said in and out class that, according to her Christian beliefs, homosexuality is immoral and a lifestyle choice.
No one in the KKK had been in contact with Keeton, who herself condemned the Klan’s actions and did not attend the event.
Keeton had filed suit in federal court against the school; a judge has refused to block ASU from expelling her if she does not fulfill the plan while the case proceeds.
