Community members blasted the board of Loudon County Public Schools for suspending an elementary gym teacher who spoke out against its proposed transgender pronoun policy.
Community members rallied around Byron Cross on Tuesday evening, ripping into the board and accusing it of retaliating against Cross for speaking out against the proposed school policy at a meeting in which the board had requested public comment on those policies. Cross had been reinstated into his teaching position earlier that day by order of a judge.
“Where is your regard for our freedom of speech?” said Rachel Pisani, a mother of three children, according to Fox News. “When I saw a teacher express an opinion and suspended for expressing his religious beliefs, I could no longer stay silent. When did it become acceptable to be tolerant only when someone expresses a view that we agree with?”
“When did it become appropriate to silence those that hold Christian, biblical views just because you don’t?” she continued. “When did it become appropriate to allow the school board – I don’t know who you think you are – but it is not appropriate, it is not allowable to silence, bully, or dismiss our views.”
Jeremy Wright, a teacher, left the school board copy of the First Amendment on the podium after he spoke.
“For the members of Chardonnay Antifa, here is your assignment with a copy of the First Amendment attached,” Wright said. “I’m going to leave this here, and I hope you learn something.”
Cross was placed on leave after he vocally refused to follow a proposed policy that would force teachers and students to refer to others using their preferred pronouns. Cross, a teacher at Leesburg elementary, said at a May 25 Loudon County Public Schools board meeting that he would not refer to students with pronouns that conflict with their biological gender, as doing so would be “lying” to the student and “sinning against our God.”
This is an excerpt from The Daily Wire.
