Teen activist Tyler Johnson decries national ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill – Los Angeles Blade
Editor’s Note: This story contains homophobic and racist slurs some readers will find traumatizing.
By James Finn | DETROIT – Do you find the following conversation shocking?
“Do you feel like the word fag is derogatory?” asks Amber Stepp in a meeting with her husband Jonathon Stepp, her son’s 5th-grade teacher Kevin McClain, and McClain’s boss, School Superintendent Jason Lockhart.
“Yes, I do,” replies McClain, who is also the pastor of Oak Grove United Methodist Church in Aubrey, Texas.
“Then why would you say to 5th grade boys to say that?” presses Amber, who recorded the conversation on her phone and later forwarded it to me. “If you feel that it’s derogatory?”
“Because it would be a negative reinforcement,” says McClain, “by the boy touching them … because if you said ‘fag alert,’ then the boys would be less likely to touch other boys.”
Shocking? Sure, but it gets much worse.
Pastor McClain doesn’t just call children fags, he calls them queers
For background, the Stepps went into that meeting to seek redress over McClain reportedly calling their son a “queer” in class. I have extensive documentation of other parents claiming McClain called Amber’s son a queer in class and that he urged children to call other children fags.
I also have documentation from Talihina parents claiming McClain has organized games of “fag tag” on the playground.
In the recording Amber sent me, McClain denies calling her son a queer, but he admits telling boys to say “fag alert” if another boy initiates roughhousing or wrestling.
I don’t know what’s more shocking, that this 5th-grade teacher feels it’s appropriate to call 10- and 11-year-old boys fags and queers, or that he is also a Christian minister in a mainline Protestant denomination. Baptists and other Evangelicals often use anti-gay slurs and other anti-LGBTQ hate speech, but United Methodist ministers do not generally have that reputation.
Talihina parents are reaching out to me to me with allegations against McClain, and with allegations of racist slurs and a hostile racist environment in Talihina schools
I initially commented on events last week in Prism & Pen and the Los Angeles Blade based on local news reports that did not identify McClain. The Stepps and other parents have since contacted me directly with so much documentation of McClain’s homophobic bullying and anti-gay vulgarities that a follow-up is necessary, both to name him and to report further developments.
Talihina parents have emailed and phoned me with shocking allegations against Talihina junior high and high school principal Kelly Gravitt, who is also the head football coach. Gravitt reportedly tolerates racist slurs like ni**er in school. One family with a mixed-race son tell me they felt forced to withdraw him from school after Gravitt and Superintendent Jason Lockhart refused to address a hostile racist environment at the junior high school.
Then tell me their son often came home reporting that other students called him a ni**er and a fag. They say that when teachers heard the slurs, they took no action.
They tell me Gravitt dismissed their concerns by telling them, “Boys will be boys.”
They tell me the final straw came when a student told their son, “Shut up, you stupid ni**er,” during a class discussion. They say their son’s teacher heard the comment and reacted by telling their son, “You’d better just be quiet.”
They tell me they then repeatedly sought redress from Superintendent Lockhart, but that he “ducked them,” not attending meetings he scheduled with them, claiming to be unavailable almost all the time, and refusing to return phone calls. They tell me they finally cornered him after waiting outside his office for hours, and they came away understanding clearly that he would take no action against students calling their son a ni**er and a fag.
Then they pulled their son from school at his request.
Lockhart is unwilling to take anti-gay and racist slurs seriously
Here’s more of the conversation with the Stepps, Lockhart, and McClain. For background, the Stepp’s son was suspended from school after his parents complained that McClain called him a fag and a queer. The Stepps met with Lockhart to arrange for their son to return to school and to ask that McClain be disciplined.
Lockhart’s vocal tone and words throughout the meeting are completely dismissive of the Stepp’s concerns. He makes clear he believes they are overreacting to a very minor matter:
Amber Stepp: “And it’s not his fault that his teacher’s bullying him, or I mean his whole class feels that way. I mean, it’s so past just being [Amber’s son].
Jonathon Stepp: “It’s so past just letting [my son] go back to the classroom, sir. I hope you respect, I hope you can see that.”
Jason Lockhart: “So what, basically, what I’m hearing from y’all is the only thing you’re gonna be satisfied with is that [your son] goes to the classroom and Mr. McClain does not.”
Amber Stepp: “Yes.”
Jonathon Stepp: “That’s correct.”
Jason Lockhart: “You’re probably not going to leave out happy today, then.”
Local parent Sarah Sharp says Lockhart leads a racist, homophobic “Good Ole Boys” network
Sarah emailed me to confirm that her children heard McClain calling 5th-grade children fags and queers and that they witnessed him organizing “fag tag” games. She wrote to me that hatred of gay and trans people is rampant and open in Talihina schools, and so is racism:
I have LGBTQ children in the school, and they have reported rampant allowances of known bullying of trans and queer kids for at least the last few years that they have had the language to discuss it with me. The fact that this teacher is being supported by the principal and superintendent in his abusive, homophobic indoctrination of children in regard to a special needs kid is horrifying to me.
I can also confirm that Talihina School has serious problems dealing with race, at least on a student level, as my Native kids have been bullied and teased regarding their differences from the white majority, and that has been allowed to go on at the school.
The school seems perfectly content to remain intolerant, and to raise intolerant children… Many parents in our town want better for and from our children, and that diversity is what makes us rich, but the “Good Ole Boys” network seems determined to keep the status quo in place.
I do not wish to remain anonymous. My kids and I agree that diversity must be supported and defended out loud and by name.
Sarah also wrote that teachers in the school system pass Bibles out to children and provide Christian religious instruction during class hours despite the objections of Native American students who practice their own religion and of parents who have asked the school system not to proselytize their children.
The parents of the mixed-race boy, who choose to remain anonymous for now, tell me that the Talihina school system student body has been shrinking dramatically. A quick review of public data verifies that. In fact, the high school is unable to field a varsity football team this year due to a “lack of participation,” which parents tell me is a direct result of the shrinking student body.
Oklahoma allows open enrollment, so parents can send their children to any public school where they can afford transportation, and three families have told me parents are choosing that option in increasing numbers each year because of the racist, homophobic, hostile environment Lockhart and his fellow administrators encourage.
Unfortunately, Talihina is far from being a prosperous town, The average income there is only $18,000 per year. Many families lack the financial means to send their children to schools elsewhere.
By comparison, Jason Lockhart earned $104,762 in 2020 and Kelly Gravitt earned $71,777. Elementary school principal Kathy Anderson, who refused to discipline McClain for calling children fags and queers, earned
$76,247. Records for McClain are not yet available.
The United Methodist Church refuses comment on McClain calling children fag
I repeatedly reached out Oak Grove United Methodist Church for comment, asking if leadership were aware of the allegations against Pastor McClain and asking if they would initiate investigatory or disciplinary proceedings against him. On Sunday, I called the church and reached a man named David Leach who identified himself as a trustee but did not reply to my written questions, and would not even verify the spelling of his last name.
I reached out repeatedly to the office of Bishop Michael McKee, who runs the North Texas United Methodist conference that Oak Grove belongs to, but nobody would return my calls. When I tried again this morning, Director of Communication Pamela Hughes answered her extension, but she refused comment too. I pressed her repeatedly to tell me if she believes calling children fags is acceptable Christian behavior. She refused to answer.
I spent hours on the phone over three days attempting to reach anyone at United Methodist national offices. None of my messages were returned. In fact, I can’t connect with a single United Methodist leader anywhere in the United States who will go on the record to say calling children fags is unacceptable.
Frankly, this astonishes me, but it’s a side issue. Here’s the main one:
Children deserve to be safe, supported, and respected at school
Today, in Talihina, Oklahoma’s public school system, Black, Native American, and LGBTQ students are neither safe, supported, nor respected. Instead, teachers and students call them names and bully them. Administrators, led by Jason Lockhart, protect and enable the bullies instead of protecting the marginalized.
Here is Amber again, from the recording she sent me, talking to pastor/teacher Kevin McClain in the presence of Jason Lockhart. Amber and Jonathon may just be modest parents in a rural Oklahoma town, but they express a sense of morality and human decency I can’t find words to improve on. So, I’ll let Amber close out this column:
You don’t know what these kids are exposed to. You don’t know if they have two moms, two dads … and I don’t appreciate you rolling your eyes just then. So, for you to tell them when they see two boys touching, to yell fag alert, I mean some of those kids may go home and they have two dads at home.
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James Finn is a columnist for the LA Blade, a former Air Force intelligence analyst, an alumnus of Queer Nation and Act Up NY, and an “agented” but unpublished novelist. Send questions, comments, and story ideas to [email protected]
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The preceding article was previously published by Prism & Pen– Amplifying LGBTQ voices through the art of storytelling and is republished by permission.