By Brody Levesque (Bethesda, Maryland) NOV 14 | The high school economics teacher in Howell, Michigan suspended after ejecting a student from his class after the student stated his belief that Gay and Lesbians were immoral, and after he and that instructor, Jay McDowell, had argued about another student wearing a belt buckle featuring the Confederate Flag, has garnered considerable support from the local community.
In a packed, standing room only meeting last Monday, the parents, students, and community members who live in the area served by Howell High School told the school board that they wanted Jay McDowell's suspension lifted and his pay restored.
Especially effective was an impassioned plea by 14 year old Graeme Taylor, an openly Gay Howell High student who quoted the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Junior and then said;
"The best thing you can do right now is just give him his pay for that day, and just reverse the disciplinary actions," Taylor told the school board. "He did an amazing thing. He did something that's inspired a lot of people. And whenever — ever — I have a teacher stand up for me like that, they change in my eyes. I support Jay McDowell, and I hope you do too."
Taylor also reminded board members that their community was once home to a Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan, Robert Miles, a notorious white supremacist organisation.
Videos Courtesy of Queerty.com & WXYZ ABC7News Detroit:
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