Anti-Bullying Speaker Curses Christian Teens
Posted in Top Stories
Apr 27, 2012
As many as 100 high school students walked out of a
national journalism conference after an anti-bullying speaker began cursing,
attacked the Bible and reportedly called those who refused to listen to his
rant “pansy asses.”
The speaker was Dan Savage, founder of the “It Gets Better” project,
an anti-bullying campaign that has reached more than 40 million viewers with
contributors ranging from President Obama to Hollywood stars. Savage also
writes a sex advice column called “Savage Love.”
Savage, and his husband, were also guests at the
White House for President Obama’s 2011 LGBT Pride Month reception.
He was also invited to a
Savage was supposed to be delivering a speech about
anti-bullying at the National High School Journalism Conference sponsored by
the Journalism Education Association
and the National Scholastic Press Association. But it turned into an episode of
Christian-bashing.
Rick Tuttle, the journalism advisor for Sutter
Union High School in California, was among several thousand people in the
audience. He said they thought the speech was one thing – but it turned into
something else.
“I thought this would be about anti-bullying,”
Tuttle told Fox news. “It turned into a pointed attack on Christian beliefs.”
Tuttle said a number of his students were offended
by Savage’s remarks – and some decided to leave the auditorium.
“It became hostile,” he said. “It felt hostile as
we were sitting in the audience – especially towards Christians who espouse
beliefs that he was literally taking on.”
Tuttle said the speech was laced with vulgarities
and “sexual innuendo not appropriate for this age group.” At one point, he said
Savage told the teenagers about how good his partner looked
in a speedo.
“The first thing he told the audience was, ‘I hope
you’re all using birth control,’” she told CitizenLink. “he
said there are people using the Bible as an excuse for gay bullying, because it
says in Leviticus and Romans that being gay is wrong. Right after that, he said
we can ignore all the (expletive deleted) in the Bible.”
As the teenagers were walking out, Tuttle said that
Savage heckled them and called them “pansy asses.”
The executive director of the National Scholastic
Press Association provided Fox News with joint statement from the Journalism
Education Association that was sent to members –
after a number of people complained about Savage’s remarks
As for Savage’s attack on people of faith? ... However, not once did the NSPA or the JEA offer any
apologies to the students or faculty advisors or anyone else in attendance.
Candi Cushman, who writes a blog on
CitizenLink, noted the irony.
“Using profanity to deride the bible – and then
mocking the Christian students after they left the room — is obviously a form of
bullying and name-calling,” she wrote. “This illustrates perfectly what we’ve
been saying all along: Too many times in the name of ‘tolerance,’ Christian
students find their faith being openly mocked and belittled in educational environments.”
Tuttle said that he “felt duped” by the event.
“There were Christian schools who went to the conference. To have this happen
was disappointing and shocking.”
And for some of his students – they felt like the
anti-bullying activist was in fact – the bully.
