By L.A. Williams
Christian Action League
September 18, 2013
The three-day suspension of a Taylorsville teacher who showed middle school students a pro-homosexual rap video points to the salience of North Carolina’s Marriage Protection Amendment, said the Rev. Mark Creech, executive director of the Christian Action League.
“I think it is vitally important to understand that this teacher wouldn’t be suspended if we ultimately lose the battle to protect marriage as one man and one woman in this country,” he said early this week. “Instead, the gay lifestyle would be affirmed in law and celebrated as perfectly normal.”
The seven-minute video of “Same Love” by rap artist Macklemore was created in support of Washington’s Referendum 74, which legalized gay marriage in that state last year. It includes two men kissing, scenes from their wedding and lyrics equating the homosexual agenda with the civil rights movement.
“The issue in this matter was one of whether the video was curriculum-based, educationally-related, and age-appropriate for a class of prepubescent 13-year-olds,” Alexander County school board attorney Joel Harbinson told CNN Sept. 12. Neither the teacher’s name, nor details about why he chose to show the video were announced. The incident happened at West Alexander Middle School.
Rev. Phil Addison, pastor of Stony Point Baptist Church and a leader of Alexander Citizens for Faith and Family Values, said parents began contacting him about the video the day it was shown, after which he phoned the Board of Education. He also heard from other pastors who learned of the incident from members of their church youth groups.
“It happened on a Tuesday, and by Wednesday the superintendent’s office was already taking action,” Rev. Addison said. “Parents were certainly not pleased about what happened. No one can take back what has already been shown to these kids. But I think most parents know the school board acted quickly and appropriately.”
He said the teacher had lost many parents’ trust, and his actions in the classroom would likely be scrutinized for a while to come.
“It was a bold and deliberate attempt to desensitize eighth-grade middle school children to the same-sex marriage issue and to try to normalize it in their eyes,” Rev. Addison said. “It’s not appropriate for anybody to show a video like that to young students.”
“Same Love,” tells the story of a boy who started thinking he was gay in third grade. It disparages “treatment and religion” and those who “paraphrase a book written 3,500 years ago.” The song also uses mild profanity, including the word “faggot.”
“Make no mistake, this is what gay activists want — they want to be able to do exactly what this teacher was wrongfully doing in an Alexander County classroom — evangelizing children for acceptance of the gay lifestyle,” said Dr. Creech.
“For those who simply want to sweep this matter under the rug and argue it’s really irrelevant, let me just ask: Do you really want gay advocacy in the schools? Because that’s exactly what you will have! If some people are so bold as to do it when it’s inappropriate, what do you think they will do when it’s legal, and marriage is redefined to include same-sex coupling?”