Hutcherson vows another protest
May 14, 2008
By Laura Geggel
At a May 8 school board meeting, the Rev. Ken Hutcherson vowed to continue to protest the Day of Silence in coming years if the Mount Si High School Gay Straight Alliance holds it during school hours.
In fact, Hutcherson, who led about 100 protestors during the annual event late last month, vowed an even larger presence in the future.
“As parents, next year, if you let this happen when school is happening, I’m going to have to organize well enough there will be no kids coming to school,” he said at the meeting.
District administrators, who are still discussing the future of the day at Mount Si, had no formal response to Hutcherson’s statement.
“I can’t control what Dr. Hutcherson does,” said Principal Randy Taylor. “We’re still assessing this year’s Day of Silence and looking to see how successful it was on campus. I’m a little disappointed with the level of absenteeism, but some of that could have been addressed through the concern of parents about adult protestors being near the school.”
It is estimated that 9 percent of students miss school on any given day, which equals the percentage of students who missed school on the 2007 Day of Silence. On the 2008 Day of Silence, however, about 47 percent of the 1,410 student body missed one or more period of class. Students who missed four or more periods - defined as a full-day absence - tallied 34 percent.
This past Day of Silence came under more scrutiny after Hutcherson, an anti-gay leader, spoke at the school’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day assembly. At the assembly, teacher George Potratz booed him and fellow teacher Kit McCormick questioned how he could stand for equality if he didn’t support gay rights.
About 200 students chose to be silent to promote tolerance and draw attention to the harassment gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people face. They were required to talk if a teacher called on them during class.
In the same public statement at the May 8 school board meeting, Hutcherson said he took offense to a statement made at the Feb. 7 school board meeting by Potratz, an American literature and film studies teacher at the high school.
At the February meeting, Potratz said he was “the one, sole person who booed Mr. Hutcherson” at the Martin Luther King Day Assembly.
Three weeks after the assembly, Potratz said the school disciplined him with a letter of reprimand in his personnel file.
In an interview, Potratz said he “thought that the choice of the leading opponent of equal rights for homosexuals in Washington state was the most inappropriate possible choice for a speaker for the day which celebrates equality in our country.”
In his February statement, Potratz said he would try to combat prejudice and “stop those who, because of hate or ignorance, would hurt anyone or violate their civil rights.” He then went on to say that, as he understood it, Hutcherson and his supporters wanted to reverse the 2006 state Anderson-Murray Law, which prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation.
“They have their right to advocate that,” Potratz said in his statement. “People at our school have the right to advocate reinstituting slavery if they want. But our school system does not regard discrimination against homosexuals as an equally valid opinion with the opinion that everyone has equal rights under the law.”
Hutcherson said he found the statement akin to wanting to reinstate slavery. He said he has notified the Washington State Department and the NAACP. Neither organization could be reached to confirm the complaints at time of deadline.
Hutcherson said he wanted Potratz and McCormick removed from the classroom.
“You need to do something about teachers you have in your rooms with my daughter and students passing by them every day knowing that you made a comment about reinstating slavery,” Hutcherson said.
Taylor said the school had disciplined Potratz.
“It was an inappropriate reference,” Taylor said. “I don’t think his statement said that he wanted to see slavery reinstituted. It was an analogy of something he was trying to draw attention to.”
If the statement was intended as an anology, Hutcherson said Potratz’s “analogy was very insensitive.”
Potratz defended his comment, saying that he used the slavery metaphor to stress how offensive he finds anti-gay rhetoric and actions.
“I assume that slavery is one thing, which all of us can agree we will never return to in this country,” Potratz said. “That it is something that is universally condemned at this point in history.”
Potratz maintains that Hutcherson distorted his comment.
“If he continues to say such things in public… I will seriously consider suing him for libel,” Potratz said.
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4 Responses to “Hutcherson vows another protest”
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Good lord will this blowhard ever shut up?
If he’s so offended by gay students and their allies being around his daughter, then SEND HER TO A PRIVATE SCHOOL!
I know he desperately needs attention but maybe he could just get a youtube account or something and quit harassing 16 year olds.
[...] The SnoValley Star reports that Rev. Ken Hutcherson plans to protest his daughter’s high school again next year on the Day of Silence. At a May 8 school board meeting, the Rev. Ken Hutcherson vowed to continue to protest the Day of Silence in coming years if the Mount Si High School Gay Straight Alliance holds it during school hours. [...]
The Safe Schools Coalition is proud of the brave gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and questioning students at Mt. Si and their wonderful straight classmates who stand up for them every year on the Day of Silence. And at almost every other high school in the region. And we will keep turning out in their defense for as long as Rev. Hutcherson continues to turn out crowds to express disapproval of them.
These courageous students have the same right to safe passage to, from and during school, every day of the year, as does Rev. Hutcherson’s daughter. And their liking someone of their own sex or their not being as masculine or as feminine as someone thinks they should be ought to have absolutely no bearing on their access to an education. They shouldn’t have to pretend and they shouldn’t be made invisible. And they have every right to the civil disobedience of being silent one day out of the year! For Pete’s sake, give everybody writing assignments that day; encourage reading, athletics and arts. Teachers can find a bazillion perfectly appropriate teaching methodologies that don’t require verbal discourse for one day!
As for Mr. Potratz’ analogy … he was obviously just trying to say that children’s free speech doesn’t end at the school house door, no matter how odious their beliefs might be.
That said, comparing forms of oppression is dicey. Gay and transgender young people do get murdered on a regular basis — about one every two months in the U.S. (see http:www.50under30.org) — as did middle schooler Larry King this past February. But their numbers pale relative to the generations of African Americans beaten to death during slavery and lynched since abolition. We appreciate people’s sensitivity about analogies to horrific things like slavery.
The point is, nevertheless, that it’s tragic for schools to ignore racism, homophobia, misogyny, classism or xenophobia. When schools abdicate, students learn anyway. They learn from media and older peers. They learn prejudices and misinformation about people different from themsleves.
The Day of Silence is a protest against teachers’ silence in the face of anti-gay bullying and disrespect. Adults in every school need to do a better job of stopping ALL harassment and of teaching about ALL kinds of diversity.
[...] Because he’s at it again. Early, even. From the SnoValley Star: At a May 8 school board meeting, the Rev. Ken Hutcherson vowed to continue to protest the Day of [...]