The attitude is not unusual in socially conservative Bakersfield, Merrick and activists say.
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The teacher’s sexual orientation became public this summer after he challenged a member of the Kern County Human Relations Commission who stated publicly that all homosexuals were sick and that he wouldn’t want his child to be taught by a gay teacher.
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Long before the controversy he told select teachers at school that he is gay and once even invited Principal Unruh to a talk he gave at a local church on gay issues. Still, Merrick said he has never mentioned his sexual orientation to students.Įven though he is out of the closet, Merrick said he still considers his homosexuality a delicate personal issue. Last year, Merrick consented to a student’s transfer from his class after a parent expressed concerns that the teacher is gay. When a student talks too loud, he’ll tell them, ‘Your voice molests me.’ In my book, that’s inappropriate behavior for any teacher.” His use of the English language is also just plain weird. “He rubs his hands over his chest and makes boys in class uncomfortable. “His body movements are different than a normal man teacher,” Ronk said. Mary Ann Ronk, who removed her foster son from Merrick’s class, contends that the teacher flaunts his homosexuality by bringing his partner to school and sporting gay-oriented bumper stickers on his car. “The kids,” Unruh said, “are caught in the middle of this.” In 15 previous requests for student transfers involving other teachers, school officials have always sided with parents, he said. Unruh doesn’t believe that he has broken any laws and says he is just following a school district policy that gives parents a say in such matters. Merrick’s principal, Ernie Unruh, said he told complaining parents that a teacher’s sexual orientation was not an acceptable or lawful reason for a transfer but ultimately moved the students anyway. And if we’re not meeting your needs, then we’re missing the boat.’ ”
You’ve just loaned them to us for six hours each day. “Our position is that we’ve always given parents the last say about their kids,” said Rio Bravo-Greeley district Supt. School officials insist that the issue is not Merrick’s homosexuality but parents’ right to educate their children in the way they see fit.
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Del Gardner, a spokesman for the union in Bakersfield, said the state labor code prohibits “different treatment in any aspect of employment on the basis of actual or perceived sexual orientation.” “The courts have ruled that prejudice cannot be the basis for a school district’s response to teacher harassment-and we think that includes parents suddenly pulling their kids from a classroom,” said Kevin Jennings, executive director of the New York-based Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network. Last month, a Utah judge struck down a school district policy that prohibited a lesbian teacher from speaking publicly about her sexual orientation.
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And last week, Lambda filed its own lawsuit on behalf of the teacher. The case, dismissed in Superior Court, is now on appeal. An Oceanside biology teacher filed suit in 1996, charging that school officials refused to protect her from harassment that included vandalism to her classroom and homophobic comments at staff meetings. “What’s unusual about this case is that a teacher has the willingness to stand up and challenge it,” she said.Ī few other gay and lesbian teachers across the nation have taken the same approach. “It’s very common for gay teachers to feel they must be closeted, that if their sexual orientation becomes known, they’ll be fired or harassed so severely they’ll have to quit,” said Jennifer Pizer, a managing attorney for the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund in Los Angeles, which has consulted with Merrick about their potential lawsuit. But few teachers have pressed the matter in formal complaints. Gay activists say that discrimination against teachers on the basis of their sexual orientation is common.