Author Topic: Florida Teacher Bans Cross Necklaces in Class, Promotes LGBT Day of Silence  (Read 10483 times)

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Offline Chosen Daughter

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Florida Teacher Bans Cross Necklaces in Class, Promotes LGBT Day of Silence


By Samuel Smith , CP Reporter
Apr 20, 2017 | 7:25 PM


A national religious liberty law firm is threatening to sue a Florida public school district over allegations that a high school math teacher forced Christian students to remove cross necklaces and that she is engaging in LGBT activism in her classroom.

The Liberty Counsel sent a demand letter on Thursday to Superintendent Jeff Eakins of Hillsborough County Public Schools on behalf of a ninth-grade student who claims that her math teacher at Riverview High School, Lora Jane Riedas, required her to remove her cross while in class.

According to the letter, Riedas has banned as many as three students from wearing crosses in her classroom, "claiming on occasion that they are 'gang symbols.'" The cross pendant that the teacher allegedly forced the ninth-grade client to remove was less than an inch long.

"One of our student clients reports that she had just sat down in class, and placed her books on her desk, when Ms. Riedas approached her," the letter reads. "Referencing the tiny cross necklace which was around the student's neck, Ms. Riedas said, 'I need you to take your necklace off.'"

"Our client asked 'Why?' and Ms. Riedas refused to explain, stating, 'That's disrespectful; you have to take it off,'" Liberty Counsel stated. "Our client did not want to be disrespectful, so she took it off, but she felt bad because she felt she was being forced to deny her faith. All of our clients are afraid to openly wear their cross necklaces in class any more."

Liberty Counsel also accuses Riedas, a lesbian who is believed to be the school's Gay, Straight Alliance sponsor, of engaging in "political activism" in her classroom, which is "permanently decorated with LGBT political themes" and "buttons prominently displayed on her desk, facing students, stating 'I Love My LGBT Students' and 'PROUD Public Employee.'"

"Moreover, at the beginning of the semester, Ms. Riedas placed LGBT rainbow stickers on students' classroom folders without their consent, which were there one day when the students arrived. One of our clients reports that after she removed the LGBT sticker, Ms. Riedas' behavior toward her changed markedly for the worse."

Liberty Counsel accuses the teacher of seeking opportunities to engage in "classroom activism" directed by GLSEN (formally known as the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network), an organization that "seeks to end discrimination, harassment, and bullying based on sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression in K-12 schools."

The demand letter was sent just two days before Friday's GLSEN "Day of Silence," which is described as an annual "student-led national event organized in thousands of schools, bringing awareness to the silencing effects of anti-LGBTQ name-calling, bullying and harassment in schools."

The event allows for students across the United States to take a vow of silence in hopes it causes people to address anti-LGBT bullying in schools.

According to Liberty Counsel, GLSEN "has called on teachers to use its 'Educator Guide' to promote GLSEN's views about homosexuality and gender confusion on 'Day of Silence,'" and to do so this Friday, April 21, 2017."

"GLSEN's guide encourages teachers to require students to engage in numerous forms of coercive, group, political activism, from grades K-12, regardless of parent desires or student religious beliefs, with no opt-out from classroom coercion," the letter asserts. "Students can either 'go along to get along,' or risk being 'outed' as disagreeing with the teacher and GLSEN's LGBT viewpoint."

The GLSEN educator's guide encourages teachers to do a number of different things with their students to advocate for LGBT rights and end bullying.

"Ms. Riedas has further engaged in impermissible LGBT political activism in the classroom, and has indicated her intent to further do so during instructional time," the letter claims. "Ms. Riedas is planning to promote GLSEN's 'Day of Silence' coercive political activities during instructional time in her classroom on Friday, April 21, 2017."

The letter points out that Riedas retweeted GLSEN's guide around 10 a.m. on Wednesday, April 5. The letter also outlines other instances in which she tweeted or "liked" LGBT causes on social media during school hours.

Liberty Counsel argues that Riedas' political activism in the classroom violates school district policy, which states that teachers "may not campaign on school property during working hours on behalf of any political issue."

The letter requests that the school district take action and confirm that it will prohibit Riedas from "interfering with student religious expression" and from "promoting LGBT political activism during instructional time on April 21, or at any other time, using any of the attached ideas in GLSEN's 'guide.'"

The letter also asks that the school force Riedas to remove pro-LGBT material from her classroom and unrequested LGBT stickers from students' classroom folders.

Finally, the letter demands that the school replace Riedas as a sponsor of the school's Gay, Straight Alliance and appoint a faculty member who can run the club as a supervisor, not an activist.

Liberty Counsel is threatening to file a federal civil rights lawsuit against the school district if it does not take the actions requested by the end of business on Thursday.

"We are in receipt of the letter from the Liberty Counsel. We have been in contact with the principal to initiate an investigation," a school district representative told The Christian Post on Thursday afternoon. "However, the principal says she has not received a complaint from any student or parent regarding any claims made in the Liberty Counsel document regarding this teacher."

CP reached out to Riedas for comment but a response could not be received by press time.

http://www.christianpost.com/news/florida-teacher-bans-cross-necklaces-in-class-promotes-lgbt-day-of-silence-181167/

Am I missing Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness?  Or the Free Exercise of Religion?

No, didn't miss it because it is missing from the new agenda to snuff out Liberty and Justice for all.

It is blatant forced social engineering.
« Last Edit: April 21, 2017, 05:56:34 am by Chosen Daughter »
AG William Barr: "I'm recused from that matter because one of the law firms that represented Epstein long ago was a firm that I subsequently joined for a period of time."

Alexander Acosta Labor Secretary resigned under pressure concerning his "sweetheart deal" with Jeffrey Epstein.  He was under consideration for AG after Sessions was removed, but was forced to resign instead.

Offline INVAR

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But we are being told, right now, on this very board - that homosexual marriages and relationships are virtuous and pose absolutely no threat whatsoever to anyone.
Fart for freedom, fart for liberty and fart proudly.  - Benjamin Franklin

...Obsta principiis—Nip the shoots of arbitrary power in the bud, is the only maxim which can ever preserve the liberties of any people. When the people give way, their deceivers, betrayers and destroyers press upon them so fast that there is no resisting afterwards. The nature of the encroachment upon [the] American constitution is such, as to grow every day more and more encroaching. Like a cancer, it eats faster and faster every hour." - John Adams, February 6, 1775

Offline Chosen Daughter

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But we are being told, right now, on this very board - that homosexual marriages and relationships are virtuous and pose absolutely no threat whatsoever to anyone.

Doesn't look like no threat to me.  People on this board have also said oh, 1 bakery..........etc.  No there is a whole list of businesses who have been railroaded by the gay agenda.  They don't want liberty.  They want your faith and your business.  Your heart and mind.  And they want your life savings if you don't play their game.

They are attacking our children at school with their gay agenda.
AG William Barr: "I'm recused from that matter because one of the law firms that represented Epstein long ago was a firm that I subsequently joined for a period of time."

Alexander Acosta Labor Secretary resigned under pressure concerning his "sweetheart deal" with Jeffrey Epstein.  He was under consideration for AG after Sessions was removed, but was forced to resign instead.

Offline Frank Cannon

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But we are being told, right now, on this very board - that homosexual marriages and relationships are virtuous and pose absolutely no threat whatsoever to anyone.

Who's saying that? Since it is so pervasive I'm sure you won't have any trouble posting direct quotes from these folks. 

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I wear my grandmother's chai necklace. Would she make me remove that too, since it's a religious symbol?
 

if I had a child I'd homeschool. Problem solved.
« Last Edit: April 21, 2017, 07:19:05 am by Freya »
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The fact that people feel the need to violate the first amendment to promote their own causes says a lot about these petty tyrants

Offline Cripplecreek

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Promotion of deviancy and destruction of Christianity go hand in hand.

Offline driftdiver

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Who's saying that? Since it is so pervasive I'm sure you won't have any trouble posting direct quotes from these folks.

I've seen it as well.

@INVAR @Frank Cannon  @Jazzhead
Fools mock, tongues wag, babies cry and goats bleat.

Offline Cripplecreek

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Who's saying that? Since it is so pervasive I'm sure you won't have any trouble posting direct quotes from these folks.

Plenty here.

http://www.gopbriefingroom.com/index.php/topic,258231.0.html

Did you know that gays have messed up children because only gays are virtuous enough to adopt the children that no one else wants?  :silly:

Offline Mom MD

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i wish i looked young enough to enroll in school.  I'd love to spend a week in her classroom wearing my cross and carrying my Bible.  And I have some suggestions where she could place her sticker on my folder....
God is still in control

Offline driftdiver

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i wish i looked young enough to enroll in school.  I'd love to spend a week in her classroom wearing my cross and carrying my Bible.  And I have some suggestions where she could place her sticker on my folder....

I'm local and several groups here are taking this up.  It won't stand.
Fools mock, tongues wag, babies cry and goats bleat.

Offline libertybele

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But we are being told, right now, on this very board - that homosexual marriages and relationships are virtuous and pose absolutely no threat whatsoever to anyone.

Exactly.  When the LBGT crowd starts mandating that others accept their beliefs and have to deny their own beliefs; its time to put a STOP to accommodating them. They are a sick minority who have no business in our schools or bathrooms and sure as hell don't deserve equal rights.
Romans 12:16-21

Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly, do not claim to be wiser than you are.  Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all.  If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all…do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Offline libertybele

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I'm local and several groups here are taking this up.  It won't stand.

I reside in FL as well.  Luckily I have a very strong conservative in my House district.  I will be contacting him to see if there is anyway he can help.
Romans 12:16-21

Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly, do not claim to be wiser than you are.  Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all.  If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all…do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Offline libertybele

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Doesn't look like no threat to me.  People on this board have also said oh, 1 bakery..........etc.  No there is a whole list of businesses who have been railroaded by the gay agenda.  They don't want liberty.  They want your faith and your business.  Your heart and mind.  And they want your life savings if you don't play their game.

They are attacking our children at school with their gay agenda.

Once again Christianity is under attack and our students are the target...between ISLAM and the LGBT community they are being bombarded by anti-Christian influences.
Romans 12:16-21

Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly, do not claim to be wiser than you are.  Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all.  If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all…do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

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Well, I looked her up.  A lipstick lesbian she is not. 

Offline jpsb

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Who's saying that? Since it is so pervasive I'm sure you won't have any trouble posting direct quotes from these folks.

I have not been here very long but I have never hear anyone say that the "gay agenda" (same sex marriage) was virtuous and non threatening towards Christians beliefs. Quite the opposite in fact.

Offline skeeter

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Scratch a progressive activist, find a tyrant better suited to run a concentration camp than a classroom.




Offline Night Hides Not

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Scratch a progressive activist, find a tyrant better suited to run a concentration camp than a classroom.

Been going on for decades. I learned my lesson 45 years ago, on the same campus that produced Rachel Maddow. You should have seen and heard the outrage heaped on me my last two months of high school. My crime? I accepted a 4 year Army ROTC Scholarship, one that would pay tuition, books, lab fees, etc. at any of over 300 colleges nationwide.

I was a "sell out", "babykiller", and other descriptive terms. One of my teachers, a chairman of the local George McGovern campaign, said to my face how "disappointed" he was with my decision. I laughed: I compared my schollie to those won by the valedictorian, such as a $250 Reader's Digest award. I was barely in the top 10% of my class, and I was getting an all-expenses paid trip to the college of my choice, which would be followed by four years active duty as an officer.

There was only one teacher who supported me: my calculus teacher, who was a former Jesuit priest at Marquette. He was thrilled that I chose to matriculate at Gonzaga.

Have never been back, haven't missed a thing. That was confirmed by my sister and BIL, who graduated two years ahead of me. About the only good that came of it was they reconnected, and would be married a couple of years hence.
You can avoid reality, but you cannot avoid the consequences of avoiding reality.

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Offline Chosen Daughter

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Been going on for decades. I learned my lesson 45 years ago, on the same campus that produced Rachel Maddow. You should have seen and heard the outrage heaped on me my last two months of high school. My crime? I accepted a 4 year Army ROTC Scholarship, one that would pay tuition, books, lab fees, etc. at any of over 300 colleges nationwide.

I was a "sell out", "babykiller", and other descriptive terms. One of my teachers, a chairman of the local George McGovern campaign, said to my face how "disappointed" he was with my decision. I laughed: I compared my schollie to those won by the valedictorian, such as a $250 Reader's Digest award. I was barely in the top 10% of my class, and I was getting an all-expenses paid trip to the college of my choice, which would be followed by four years active duty as an officer.

There was only one teacher who supported me: my calculus teacher, who was a former Jesuit priest at Marquette. He was thrilled that I chose to matriculate at Gonzaga.

Have never been back, haven't missed a thing. That was confirmed by my sister and BIL, who graduated two years ahead of me. About the only good that came of it was they reconnected, and would be married a couple of years hence.

The Social Engineering is blatant. 
AG William Barr: "I'm recused from that matter because one of the law firms that represented Epstein long ago was a firm that I subsequently joined for a period of time."

Alexander Acosta Labor Secretary resigned under pressure concerning his "sweetheart deal" with Jeffrey Epstein.  He was under consideration for AG after Sessions was removed, but was forced to resign instead.

Offline skeeter

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Been going on for decades. I learned my lesson 45 years ago, on the same campus that produced Rachel Maddow. You should have seen and heard the outrage heaped on me my last two months of high school. My crime? I accepted a 4 year Army ROTC Scholarship, one that would pay tuition, books, lab fees, etc. at any of over 300 colleges nationwide.

I was a "sell out", "babykiller", and other descriptive terms. One of my teachers, a chairman of the local George McGovern campaign, said to my face how "disappointed" he was with my decision. I laughed: I compared my schollie to those won by the valedictorian, such as a $250 Reader's Digest award. I was barely in the top 10% of my class, and I was getting an all-expenses paid trip to the college of my choice, which would be followed by four years active duty as an officer.

There was only one teacher who supported me: my calculus teacher, who was a former Jesuit priest at Marquette. He was thrilled that I chose to matriculate at Gonzaga.

Have never been back, haven't missed a thing. That was confirmed by my sister and BIL, who graduated two years ahead of me. About the only good that came of it was they reconnected, and would be married a couple of years hence.

Campus leftwing radicals have been a force since the 30s.

Proving Churchill's maxim - If you're not a liberal at twenty you have no heart, if you're not a conservative at forty you have no brain.

Offline Chosen Daughter

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I reside in FL as well.  Luckily I have a very strong conservative in my House district.  I will be contacting him to see if there is anyway he can help.

I am glad that you two are local and can call your Representatives about this.  Today is the gay day nationwide.  We probably have no idea how many teachers are pushing this day of silence.  And on the off days they are leading up to it with daily talks on diversity.
AG William Barr: "I'm recused from that matter because one of the law firms that represented Epstein long ago was a firm that I subsequently joined for a period of time."

Alexander Acosta Labor Secretary resigned under pressure concerning his "sweetheart deal" with Jeffrey Epstein.  He was under consideration for AG after Sessions was removed, but was forced to resign instead.

Offline Night Hides Not

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Campus leftwing radicals have been a force since the 30s.

Proving Churchill's maxim - If you're not a liberal at twenty you have no heart, if you're not a conservative at forty you have no brain.

LOL - I'd like to think that Sir Winston would have been proud of me. At 18, I worked on the McGovern campaign (though I admit it was more for extra credit in Civics class...not that I needed it). At 26, I was an advocate for a Reagan victory, engaging in conversations with my German neighbors, in German, at the local gasthaus in the weeks leading up to the election. They were convinced Reagan would start WWIII. Many neighbors came of age during WWII, so it wasn't a slam dunk. It took until Inauguration Day, and the release of the hostages, for them to come around.

Long story short, I did my job well enough to be invited to sit at the stammtisch for my last six months in country. It's an honor I cherish to this day, to sit at the table designate for family, and close friends of the family.
You can avoid reality, but you cannot avoid the consequences of avoiding reality.

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Offline Night Hides Not

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Poor woman would never make it in our school district. Our kids wear various t-shirts from our church to school, such as the HS ministry and middle school shirts. A lot of thought and imagination go into each year's version, and the designers do a good job on making the shirts attractive to those age groups.

It's not just our church, other denominations have grown enormously over the past 20 years, as the town has grown from 20K to 40K+.
You can avoid reality, but you cannot avoid the consequences of avoiding reality.

1 John 3:18: Let us love not in word or speech, but in truth and action.

Offline 240B

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If you wore the crucifix upside down it would be no problem.
But I think she is setting up a lawsuit. She's no different from a person who pours soap on the floor and then 'slips' in Walmart. She wants to be censured so she can sue. Like most people in a "protected class", she believes that the normal rules of civil behavior do not apply to her. She can do any vulgar, inappropriate action that she wants to, and if anyone protests it is obviously because they hate gay people, of course.
This will end in a lawsuit. It has to. Because her inappropriate behavior will continue to escalate until she gets what she wants, whatever it takes.
I have seen this scam a hundred times and this situation is no different from all of them.
You cannot "COEXIST" with people who want to kill you.
If they kill their own with no conscience, there is nothing to stop them from killing you.
Rational fear and anger at vicious murderous Islamic terrorists is the same as irrational antisemitism, according to the Leftists.

Offline DCPatriot

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Why isn't the 'teacher' in the hospital already, under 24/7 protection?    *****rollingeyes*****
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