Students upset by anti-LGBT flier at Mebane high school
MEBANE, North Carolina (WTVD) -- As Eastern Alamance High School students returned to class Tuesday morning from Memorial Day Weekend, they noticed something out of place. It was an anti-LGBT poster posted in several places throughout the school.
"The first thing I thought was why would somebody put that up there," said junior student Kenneth Lilly. "Because there's no reason why somebody should bother somebody for who they want to be. And it just pissed me off."
The poster said "supporting LGBT rights is supporting sin" and made reference to Sodom and Gomorrah, citing Genesis 19 of the Bible.
School officials have not said whether any disciplinary action will be taken against whoever posted the flier, but did say they never received any request to post such information on school property.
Officials said had administrators received a request to post such as flier, the request would have been denied, because of the language and nature of the posting.
A spokeswoman for Alamance-Burlington Schools told ABC11 that the fliers were removed before school began on Tuesday morning after it came to the attention of school administrators.
Administrators are investigating. However, some students told ABC11 they know who the student is.
One LGBT student saw the poster and was offended. According to the student's aunt, the student went to vice principal Dr. J. Ako Barnes and was told it was "free speech" and nothing could be done about it.
"If the administration had just apologized and said it was wrong and put the student on a probation or suspension, it would have all ended right there," said Jennifer Spencer, the student's aunt. "But their attitude about it was 'meh, we're not going to do anything about it."
Sophomore student Hunter Atkinson said he was also bothered by the posting.
"I like freedom of speech," Atkinson said. "But let people be who they are. They choose that for a reason. There's no reason to put them down like that."
Wednesday, members of Students United met on campus after school to discuss the incident and other LGBT-related issues.
As of now, there is no word of any disciplinary action facing the person or persons responsible for posting the flier.
"As a parent, I think this is a high school where kids go and to me this is like it is bullying, this is discrimination," said Joanne Clevenger, the mother of the student who initially went to school administrators about the flier. "You should go to school and be able to go to school and feel safe and learn in an environment where everybody is accepted."
Atkinson summed it up:
"It was just a bad day for everybody."
