Fla. Teacher Suspended for Posting Anti-Gay Marriage Views on Facebook

We read:

"A Florida history teacher has been suspended after it was revealed he wrote about his objections to gay marriage on his personal Facebook page. Jerry Buell, who was Mount Dora High School’s “Teacher of the Year” last year, reportedly wrote that he almost “threw up” in response to New York’s legalization of same-sex marriage in July.

According to Fox News, the school system received a complaint about the comment Tuesday and suspended and reassigned Buell the next day.

“It was my own personal comment on my own personal time on my own personal computer in my own personal house, exercising what I believed as a social studies teacher to be my First Amendment rights,” Buell told Fox.

Chris Patton, a communications officer for the school system, told Fox there was concern about how Buell might treat gay students in his class. He also disputed the notion that the comments were private.

“He has [more than] 700 friends,” Patton said. “How private is that – really? Social media can be troubling if you don’t respect it and know that just because you think you are in a private realm – it’s not private.”

He vowed Buell will not return to the classroom until “a thorough job of looking at everything – past or previous writings” is complete.

Buell said he thought the school is trying to silence Christian teachers, warning them not to express their views.

Source

A pretty clear 1st Amendment violation by the school there.

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).