At inclusive N.J. school, valedictorian wasn’t bullied because he’s gay | Opinion – NJ.com
Editor’s note: This op-ed is a response to the recent South Jersey Times editorial, “N.J. principal flouted community standards in censoring gay grad,” and to news coverage about this incident. The writer teaches at the high school involved.
By Rich Colton
Eastern Regional High School in Camden County, where I’ve worked for more than 15 years, is under attack.
Following a poorly handled incident at our annual graduation ceremony, when the administration insisted that valedictorian Bryce Dershem alter his commencement address, we’ve witnessed an explosion of media coverage, social media posts and personal e-mails pushing the idea that Dershem was singled out and bullied because he is gay.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
There can be no question about Eastern’s commitment to acceptance and inclusivity. The proof is incontrovertible. We’ve built a place where students support each other, regardless of sexual identity. Our community has historically welcomed LBGT students, staff and administrators. It’s the kind of school where a gay student like Bryce can win student of the month. Where that same student can earn the prestigious title of valedictorian. Where Bryce’s peers voted him prom king. (I know. I counted the votes, and let me tell you, it wasn’t close.)
The folks lining up to condemn our principal, Robert M. Tull, for “bullying” our valedictorian in spite of the overwhelming and obvious evidence to the contrary should ask themselves one question: What kind of a society are you interested in creating?
If the answer is one where LGBT kids are educated in a safe and accepting environment, then I’m sorry. You’re too late. That, I’m happy to say, already exists in New Jersey. Eastern High School is a proud example. I fear for a different answer with unintended consequences.
The world that news outlets like the New York Times and Gov. Phil Murphy’s Twitter feed seem to be hastening into existence would be a lot different. It’s one where no discipline of a gay or lesbian student for any reason can ever be tolerated, because such discipline is, in itself, proof of homophobia and discrimination. It’s a world where parents cannot parent, teachers cannot teach and school principals cannot discipline.
We’ve seen the world flipped upside down before. I’m reminded of teenagers in Mao Zedung’s China, armed with their copies of the chairman’s “Little Red Book,” children informing on their parents during the French Revolution’s Reign of Terror, or Germany’s Hitler Youth.
The debate we ought to be having is whether a school has the right to censor a student’s graduation speech at all under the First Amendment. In a perfect world where responsible, professional journalists choose to ask probative questions instead of pushing polemical narratives, we’d be examining Principal Tull and Dershem’s interaction in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1969 Tinker v. Des Moines ruling, which held that students could not be barred from wearing armbands art school to protest the Vietnam War.
Also applicable for discussion is the recent Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L. decision, in which a court majority decided that her school district had wrongly punished 14-year-old cheerleader Brandi Levy over a profanity-laced comment she posted on social media when she was off-campus.
What we got instead about Eastern was a lazy feeding frenzy of people coming to the aid of a student who was never bullied for being queer. If fact, he was never bullied at all.
Rich Colton is a history teacher at Eastern Regional High School in Voorhees Township.
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