The nutshell synopsis is this - a teacher who is a known lesbian was seen in a lockerroom/washroom facility alone with female student. Someone jumped to the conclusion that "homosexual == pedophile", and accused her of just that - without any evidence whatsoever.
Granted - in an era where sexual predators have become much more visible, and there have been a few successful prosecutions of female predators in recent years, I can understand a certain amount of apprehension on the part of the public about anything that might appear to be unusual. However, after a number of false accusation cases, it seems quite clear that mere suspicion is inadequate, and the consequences of acting on supposition are sufficiently drastic that perhaps some moderation is required.
Oddly, it wasn't the article that got my goat, it was one of the comments some semi-literate moron had submitted just below it: (I've lifted it in its entirety because I don't know how long the Globe and Mail will leave it there).
rftgjh nrtdxfyjhn from toronto, writes: this "lady" was not wrongly done by. the principal did what i would expect him to have done. there have been white men falsely xharged with this sort of thing and have had clouds over their lives and careers forever. no matter their lack of guilt, they are looked at with guarded eyes.
why is it so different for this "lady". imagine the furor if it had been a white male in her place. his career would be over. hers should be n different.
she is waving her homosexuality like a flag. she is using the human rights system like many homosexuals before her tog et something she shouldn't be entitled to.
she and the rest of her kind had better get used to people not wanting homosexuals near their children. i wouldn't either. no amount of legislation will ever change this. you can't legislate belief or make people "like" or trust homosexuals.
Willow had just better get used to it.
The obvious illiteracy of the writer aside, there's a few points to pull out:
1) the principal did what i would expect him to have done.
Two people washing their hands in a washroom does not constitute child predation. It doesn't even reach the level of probable cause. (Which I will note the Police correctly determined) The mistake made here was that someone made the story public long before any substantive investigation had happened.
2) why is it so different for this "lady".
What right do you, or anyone else, have to destroy a person's life and livelihood because of what you infer from what you saw? People have made false accusations against men, and have faced charges for it as a result.
3) she is waving her homosexuality like a flag. she is using the human rights system like many homosexuals before her tog et something she shouldn't be entitled to.
Huh? She's a known lesbian - big deal. She's living her life honestly - why should that subject her to maltreatment? Someone leaped to a completely invalid conclusion because they didn't have the knowledge and understanding of sexuality so it's "okay" to accuse this woman of being something she isn't?
4) she and the rest of her kind had better get used to people not wanting homosexuals near their children.
Ah yes, the "my kind are better than your kind" reasoning - used commonly by the terminally ignorant. So, if in your mind, people with attribute X are inferior to you, it's okay to make false accusations? It wasn't so many years ago that I remember some pretty horrific assumptions being made about people from different parts of the world - simply by the colour of their skin.
The sooner people get it through their heads that homosexual does not imply pedophile, the better. (any more than being black makes someone a thief)
...and to think I was planning on writing about Iran this morning ... oh well - perhaps later on.
6 comments:
This is just disgusting. The totally ridiculous idea that "homosexuality=pedophilia" or "homosexuality=uncontrollable sex drive" is, unfortunately, widespread. It just so happens, I'm sure, that a male teacher would not be found in this washroom, since it was (apparently) a women's lavatory. Would the witness jump to the same conclusion upon seeing a (presumably heterosexual) male teacher alone with a female student in his classroom? I suppose it's possible. When I was in high school, my English teacher, Mr. Cannon, with whom I got along really well, and I used to have interesting conversations about literature. If I arrived at his room, though, and there was no one else there, either he would step out in the hall and we would talk there, or he would ask me to come back later. Apparently, the teachers were well instructed on how to avoid even looking suspicious. The teacher mentioned in the article you refer to, though, couldn't avoid this -- what, is she not supposed to empty her bladder or wash her hands afterward if someone is in the room?
Incidents like this are one of the reasons I am a proponent of comprehensive education on sexuality. (Not just sex)
These situations are borne primarily out of ignorance - little different than whatever motivated this knuckle-dragger to enter a gay bar and start attacking people.
It's all motivated by fear - and the wonderful pressures of society promoting intolerance and misunderstanding.
"I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain."
- Bene Gesserit Mantra
What was the Bene Gesserit stance on GBLT issues?
(and please tell me that you had to look up the Mantra from Dune and didn't have it memorized).
The mantra - yes, I had to look it up - my memory for poetry isn't that good.
As for the Bene Gesserit on GLBT - Frank Herbert never addressed those issues. I suspect that as long as they could get their "breeding material", the Bene Gesserit wouldn't have given a damn about someone's romantic interests.
(Notably - Baron Vladimir Harkonnen has a rather obvious interest in "pretty young men")
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