Update: Gay teacher cleared following “homosexuality is wrong” student slander

It’s the type of story that the likes of Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck and Bryan Fischer love to beat into the ground…except it wasn’t true.  As we reported yesterday, 16-year-old Dakota Ary was apparently part of a group of kids who continusly harassed Fort Worth German teacher Kristopher Franks.

When Ary told the teacher that he “was a christian and believed that homosexuality was wrong”, Franks apparently had enough of the taunting and sent the kid to the principals office.

Except that’s not the story that was reported to the media. Thanks to a right- wing fascist media spin job, outlets reported that Ary had been kicked out of school for merely expressing his opnion.

The Dallas Voice reports this morning that, “Franks, who had not spoken to the press previously on the advice of his union representative, said Thursday afternoon that he had just met with Fort Worth Independent School District administrators, who told him the nearly weeklong investigation had determined that the allegations against him were unfounded. He did not elaborate on the substance of those allegations.  Franks also said administrators had given him the option of returning to teach at Western Hills High or transferring to another school in the district.

Just how far did the Ary and a couple of other students take their harassment?

The Voice says “Franks told friends that the harassment by Ary and his friends began several weeks ago after Franks, who also teaches sociology, posted on the “World Wall” in his classroom a photo, taken from the German news magazine Stern, of two men kissing. The photo was ripped off the wall and torn in two at some point during Ary’s class, and Franks told friends he believes that Ary or one of his friends tore up the photo.

During a later sociology class students upset that the photo had been torn up replaced it with a hand-drawn picture, and another student then covered that picture with a page bearing a hand-written biblical scripture from Leviticus calling sex between two men an abomination.”

Harassment is a serious offense in Fort Worth, which has some of the most stringent anti-bullying laws in the country. Franks has not decided whether or not he will pursue a legal case against the student and the spin job performed against him by the Liberty Counsel.

As for an apology from Hannitty, Beck or Fischer? Franks probably shouldn’t hold his breath, they’ve already moved on to their next victim.

 

 

 

 

 

The Rest Of The Story: “Homosexuality is wrong” kid harassed teacher

Stop me if you’ve heard this one:  A 16-year-old Fort Worth Texas student got kicked out of his class earlier this month for telling his German teacher that he “was a christian and believed that homosexuality is wrong”.

If you haven’t you haven’t been paying attention. The story has gotten big play by hundreds of fascist right wing websites, talk show hosts and media outlets across the country.  Not even the Advocate could resist reporting the reverse discrimination spin.

But it turns out Dakota Ary may not exactly he the persecuted christian he makes himself out to be.  The Dallas Voice published a letter this week from Marvin Vann, a member of the group LGBTQ S.A.V.E.S., formed about a year ago to protect LGBT students and teachers in Tarrant County from anti-gay harassment.

“Kristopher Franks, a German teacher with a long and distinguished service record at Western Hills High School, is currently being investigated by FWISD administrators, swayed by a right-wing attempt to rouse public opinion against him for having the temerity to write a disciplinary referral against Dakota Ary, a student whom Franks reports publicly harassed him in class on the basis of the student’s perception that Mr. Franks is gay,” Writes Vaughn.

“On the particular day in which this incident occurred, Mr. Franks was opening class when the topic of Christianity in Germany was broached by one student, who asked what churches were there, another whether they read the Bible in English, etc. Franks asserts that the topic of homosexuality was not broached in any way, and that Ary‘s assertions to the contrary are entirely false. At this point, Ary declared, with a class audience, “Gays can’t be Christians; homosexuality is wrong,” looking directly at Mr. Franks. Franks says he understands and affirms students’ right to free speech, and that he is perfectly prepared to lead a respectful discussion on topics such as gay rights that allows for the assertion of opinions with which he disagrees. He has led such discussion in the past in his sociology classes. But in this case, hr feels the context makes it clear that this remark was made ad hominem, aimed specifically at him to devalue him and any information he might share on the topic of religion, on the basis of his perceived sexual orientation.”

To add insult to injury,  Vaughn points out that Franks isn’t really able to defend himself in the media  “This is being depicted in numerous news reports as an effort to suppress the student’s First Amendment right to free speech. As Franks and the district cannot speak to media while the incident is being investigated by the district, only the student and his Liberty Institute lawyer’s version of the incident is being reported in the media.”

Just who is the Liberty Institute? Why it’s the same fascist radical conservative legal mouthpiece that belives such things as ” an attack on a healthy 22-year-old homosexual man would be more protected under the law than an attack on an eight-year-old child,”  and other such nonsense.  Not exactly the ACLU.

And now you know the rest of the story.