An Iowa teacher was placed on leave after sharing he is bisexual. His students staged a walkout.

[riversedge]

As far as I can tell
it is a public high school. It is 2021. WTF!!



An Iowa teacher was placed on leave after sharing he is bisexual. His students staged a walkout.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/09/07/iowa-students-lucas-kaufmann-administrative-leave/5763775001/





Samantha Hernandez Sarah Kay LeBlanc
Des Moines Register

DES MOINES, Iowa — Cora Smith walked out of Winterset's High School Tuesday with a bisexual pride flag draped over her shoulders.

The 10th grader was among more than 100 students who walked out a in protest over the school district placing seventh-grade literacy teacher Lucas Kaufmann on leave.

Kaufmann was placed on leave last week following a presentation about himself to his class featured the LGBT Pride flag, according to a www.change.org petition. When asked by students, Kaufmann said he was bisexual.

Nearly 1,500 people have signed the online petition. "We're hoping that this will help Mr. Kaufmann," Smith said.

Winterset Community School District Superintendent Justin Gross confirmed Kaufmann was placed on leave after concerns were raised following his presentation, but declined further comment. State law prohibits employers from firing employees based on sexual orientation and gender identification, which Gross acknowledged.
....................

[madaboutharry]

1. Winterset, Iowa

Don’t be fooled by the pretty covered bridges.

[Aristus]

17. If there are LGBTQ students in his class who are afraid of coming out

because they worry they'll be bullied, or at least not understood by their classmates, sure.

It's a way of putting a human face on what to many may be an abstract issue.

Looks like it worked, too. Such courage and empathy the students showed in support of their teacher. It's reasonable to assume now that they would do the same for their fellow students.

This is a plus, and should be viewed that way...

[Jim G.]

26. ANTIFA Flags?

I think you're most uncomfortable with the truth.

[Aristus]

28. More uncomfortable than Nazi or Confederate flags?

I'm not asking that just to be provocative. The rainbow and ANTIFA flags represent a net positive, whereas Nazi and Confederate flags represent an unequivocal negative. There's no both-siderisms here.

[Jim G.]

33. You Won't Get A Serious Reply From That One

That's not their purpose here.

[Solomon]

56. Dang I missed it.

(pouting) I never get to play with the trolls.

[Aristus]

38. Jim G. was right. You just showed your hand.

Confederate flag: independence, history, heritage; ANTIFA - Nazis, KKK.

Enjoy your stay...

I'm done...

[BumRushDaShow]

40. Yup.

[Jim G.]

43. That Was A Known RW Troll

They only post here to disrupt.

[Aristus]

44. You caught it before the rest of us...

[mn9driver]

19. Good morning.

So nice to see you again.

[Happy Hoosier]

25. Why not?

Teachers are people. Most of my teachers would tell me something about themselves.

[mn9driver]

35. Reading skills are important.

He didn’t drape a flag around his shoulders. That was one of his students in response to his suspension. Spending a lot of time in libraries helps with reading for detail, don’t you think?

[madaboutharry]

27. I was addressing the politics of Madison County.

Not whether the teacher said anything personal.

But let us just say that he said he was heterosexual and had a wife or a girlfriend. Would he have been placed on leave? I think not.

[ck4829]

2. K&R

[fescuerescue]

3. So he did a presentation on *his* sexuality to his students?

That seems inappropriate no matter what flag he flies.

Especially since he teaches English. Not health.

[obamanut2012]

5. I didn't see anything about his presentation being about sex

Can you link to that? Because that would be wholly inappropriate, and then he should be fired.

[LeftInTX]

29. Article says this

Kaufmann was placed on leave last week following a presentation about himself to his class featured the LGBT Pride flag, according to a www.change.org petition. When asked by students, Kaufmann said he was bisexual.

Details aren't the best though because what kind of presentation was it? Was he doing a generic "get to know your teacher" that happened to include a flag? Context just isn't clear.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

6. lol whut

[DFW]

7. I tend to agree--this was not something for the classroom. However......

Kudos to the students for supporting him, nonetheless!

The principal could have called the guy into his office for a quiet reprimand, and it would have sufficed. It's not like the teacher was looking for recruits.

[FreeState]

53. As long as no other teacher say or infer they are straight

I’d agree with you. But we all know that’s not the case.

[dsc]

9. As a teacher I introduce myself to my classes

and do tell them thing about myself. In my case that I am a recovering alcoholic and that I am in the Triangle Gay Men's Chorus. The sentient ones likely figure out the rest.

[Treefrog]

12. None of my teachers ever did any kind of "presentation" about themselves.

In elementary school, I remember seeing one of my teachers in a grocery store and being amazed lol.

My mother (who had been a teacher) thought that was hysterical, chiding me that teachers were people too.

I can't imagine why he thought it was appropriate to talk about his sexuality to his students.

[Happy Hoosier]

30. NOPE.

He made a brief presentation about himself of which one small part mentioned, by inference, his sexuality.

He wasn't including diagrams.

[fescuerescue]

51. Could you link the presentation that you saw?

I'd like to see it myself

Thanks! You are very helpful.

[Ms. Toad]

54. Hmm . . . Does that mean that straight teachers should never refer to their husbands/wives

Never have a picture of their spouse on their desk? Wear a wedding ring? Each of those announces - in school, in whatever class they are teaching, that they have sex with someone of the opposite gender.

If it is inappropriate for an LGBT person to disclose ther sexuality, it is equally inappropriate for a straight person to do so.

Just had my hair cut by a daughter's buddy high school buddy who was suspended 15 years ago for wearing an, "I love my girlfriend" T-shirt. A substantial portion of the class reacted the same way this class did, - they all planned to wear matching T-shirts. After being threatened with suspension they wore "Free Speech" shirts instead of shirts that matched my daughter's buddy's.

The principal who suspended her wore a wedding ring and had a picture of his wife on his desk. Which I pointed out to him when I promised him that if he suspended my daughter he'd have a legal fight on his hands.

Can't believe I'm still having this conversation.

[fescuerescue]

55. Well it's awhile but no

No

None of my teachers ever did a presentation on themselves, their sexuality or their family. Especially in ENGLISH class!!

Occasionally I heard a reference to a husband or wife. But even that was pretty darn uncommon. In fact I'm trying to recall such a conversation and I'm coming up empty (of course high school was 30+ years ago)

Honestly, my teachers really did stick to teaching.


As for wedding rings. I have never heard of that being controversial for anyone. Now or back then.

The only time I've ever heard of someone getting upset over a wedding band is when it's worn when it shouldn't - such as operating machinery where such a practice is dangerous.

I suppose I could do some googling over wedding band protests, wedding band suspensions etc, but I'll just rely on my memory here.

But I'll say this. Yes. No teacher should be talking about their sexuality to their students. Straight or otherwise. It's just inappropriate.

[Ms. Toad]

58. Straight people aren't even aware of how often they announce their sexuality,

And don't even notice when other straight people do it, But are outraged when LGBTQ people do exactly the same.
.
My point about wedding bands isn't that straight people are being suspended for wearing them -it is that they aren't, but that it is one more way straight people announce their sexuality - or even invite conversation about their sexuality, without even being aware of it. My spouse had her first wedding band stolen, because she removed it when she arrived at work out of fear she would be asked about her husband and have to choose between disclosing her sexuality and lying. She tucked it into the pocket of the sweater she kept on her chair when she arrived, and left it there by accident one night and it was gone the next morning.

I wore mine at work, As a public school teacher, and was frequently asked about my husband by both students and faculty.

Most people who have never had to think about hiding their sexuality talk about their own with great regularity without any awareness at all that they are even doing it - and are similarly unaware when others do it.

[Bettie]

4. The high note of this is that

the students advocated for him.

In Winterset Iowa, a town of about 5,000. Red as can be.

The kids walked out over this. I think that is a ray of hope.

[SharonClark]

13. The students say it's important for gay kids to have a role model,

especially in deep red Madison County. I'm sure this was ginned up by the right-wing rag mentioned in the article.

[IowaGuy]

37. Winterset...home town of John Wayne...

[Whiskeytide]

8. Not sure it's 2021 in Winterset Iowa. n/t

[Demsrule86]

11. 2021...you do understand that there is little protection for LGBTQ? In Ohio the legislature

enacted a law that gives Medical professionals and insurance companies to refuse to give or in the insurance company's case have to pay for treatment of LGBTQ people. So in Ohio, it is OK to literally kill people like my daughter...It is not 2021 in a number of states.

"Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, signed a bill late last month that allows any medical provider to deny treatment to LGBTQ patients based on “moral grounds.” The measure comes months after Arkansas, South Dakota, and Montana enacted similar legislation, indicating a growing trend among Republican-controlled state legislatures.

The Ohio provision was tucked inside a 700-page document of amendments to the state’s two-year budget bill and remained largely unexamined until DeWine had signed it into law. The governor didn’t mention the change in a four-page summation of the amendments posted to his website."

https://fortune.com/2021/07/09/ohio-law-allows-doctors-to-deny-health-care-and-birth-control-to-lgbtq-patients.

[Whiskeytide]

14. Outrageous and sad. I would think that ...

… having a moral objection to treating people due to their orientation would violate just about every oath taken by health care professionals.

I just don’t understand what is wrong with people.

[Demsrule86]

15. I would think so too, but it doesn't. And consider this. In Ohio many of our public

hospitals have closed so there are many communities that have only Catholic hospitals...Catholics even some doctors and nurses are against abortion and LGBTQ as well. There is a law on the books now in Ohio that a woman can't go to a public hospital if she has medical issues due to an abortion. The doctor can be charged. This means that even in miscarriage a doctor must be certain abortion was not involved. It is a nightmare.

[EndlessWire]

18. I also think

that it was inappropriate for the teacher to talk about his own sexuality, and that's even if he was teaching health class, which he wasn't. He seems to lack some discernment for what can be talked about, and what is better left to the parent, or at least some other point in time. There is nothing bold or daring about this. Not the time to raise the gay pride flag, either. Stick to your subject.

There was absolutely no reason to make an issue of this, unless some kid was giving out signs of impending suicide over their own situation. And then, a referral would have been more appropriate. If some kid had tried it, then a global response of acceptance may have been acceptable, but they aren't saying this is what happened.

[Wingus Dingus]

20. That's too bad, he was well-liked by his students.

It's one thing to mention your partner (of same or opposite gender) in the course of classroom chatter, as my teachers sometimes did. Or to briefly acknowledge you're bisexual or gay or straight. Most kids can handle those facts, and you're not making a point of telling them all about it. Where he went wrong was making a presentation about it.

[Happy Hoosier]

23. So what crossed the line in his presentation?

Where the FUCK is the logic of that? Would a straight teacher be suspended for making a point of mentioning they were straight?

FUCK THIS and FUCK anyone who supports this.

[Wingus Dingus]

24. Well, mentioning isn't presentation.

Presentation means a focus on the topic, and prepared material. Mentioning is just a brief noting of a fact.

[Happy Hoosier]

31. Read again.

The presentation was about himself in general. It's included a pride flag. When asked by students, he said he is bisexual. Where's the problem?

Are you advocating for a "don't ask, don't tell" policy?

[Wingus Dingus]

32. Depends on what was said. If he focused any part of the

presentation on his orientation that was probably too much. My teachers never stood in front of class and talked about their orientation. We just mostly surmised it from "My husband is a dentist" or "My wife is in the hospital so I will be out this week".

[Happy Hoosier]

48. This makes no sense to me.

Why should someone have to hide something as basic as that about themselves?

So we have to dance around fundamental aspects of ourselves out of fear of offending someone? NOPE.

[Happy Hoosier]

22. Fire up the lawsuit!

He better be getting paid, and he better not have his career prospects limited.

This is out-fucking-rageous.

[Sympthsical]

39. So . . . what was in the presentation?

I googled around, but haven't been able to find anything other than a Pride flag was involved.

The Superintendent knows orientation is a protected class by law, so he'd have to have pretty good reason or else he'd be in for some shit. What is it he's claiming happened here?

These articles are surprisingly light on details. I always get a little suspicious when people and articles kind of talk around a situation and don't give a clear view of how everything got from A to B. I'm sure the reporter must know. Would they mind filling us in?

I'm a gay man at a position of authority at my job, so I'd be interested to know what exactly went down here.

[Behind the Aegis]

42. Is it any wonder that this happened?

One simply has to look at comments in THIS thread to see why this happened.

People are wondering why this happening in 2021, but why is this happening HERE in 2021?!

[WhiskeyGrinder]

47. Well said.

[Happy Hoosier]

49. You got that right!

I am SHOCKED by the some of the comments here.

[MustLoveBeagles]

52. +1

[Bettie]

57. Right?

I was really surprised by some of the comments in a not-good way.

[DavidDvorkin]

46. I didn't even know there was a bisexual pride flag

Which I guess is indicative of how invisible bisexuals are.

[Behind the Aegis]

50. Pretty much everyone has one now.

However, the bi pride flag has been around for over 20 years. It looks like this: