The editor of the gay rights cause for change.org came out swinging today against Crosby Middle School and Assistant Principal  Angela B. Allen, joining Kentucky Equality Federation and one of the nation’s most popular LGBTI blogs, Pam’s House Blend demanding immediate action.

“The issue centers on the suspension of the child from the bus simply because she was offended when others on the bus were making fun of gay and lesbian people. When she brought this to the attention of bus driver, the driver thought it was humorous and told the child she was a ‘contradiction’ according to the discrimination report with our organization,” stated Rick Wolfe, spokesman for Kentucky Equality Federation’s Discrimination, Hate Crimes, and School Bullying Committee. “As a result of the child bringing it to the attention of the bus driver, she was suspended for a three (3) day period. The fact that the bus driver called her a ‘contradiction’ because she was the child of a lesbian couple, in addition to the way the school handled the situation is a serious problem.”

“The fact that anyone still feels they have the right to make judgment calls regarding other peoples life choices is the reason that organizations like Kentucky Equality Federation and COLAGE (Children of Lesbians and Gays Everywhere) exist,” stated Julia Oiler Spiegel, Coordinator of the COLAGE Kentucky Chapter, and Kentucky Equality Federation’s Children of LGBTI Parents Outreach Director. The Kentucky Chapter of COLAGE is also a member of the Commonwealth Coalition. “As a parent, lesbian or straight, I would question the safety of my child while being chaperoned by this bus driver. I cannot help but wonder the drivers response if a child reported being bullied, harassed or assaulted while riding this bus. I commend this child for her willingness to defend her family unit, however that may be defined.”

Change.org Issues Alert

Change.org - This is proving to be a difficult week for students who have LGBT parents. First came word out of Massachusetts that a Catholic school was refusing to admit an eight-year-old boy in class because he had two moms. Now comes word from a school in Kentucky that a 12-year-old student was made fun of by her bus driver because of her lesbian parents.

But this situation gets even worse. The story goes something like this: a 12-year-old student at Crosby Middle School is riding the school bus. Some students on the bus start talking trash about gays and lesbians, and it makes the student understandably angry, given that she has two same-sex parents. The student walks up to the bus driver, a woman named Ronell Mattingly, and asks the driver to do something about all the homophobic talk.

Mattingly refused. But not only did she refuse, she thought the homophobic chatter was funny. And then, when she found out that this 12-year-old had two same-sex parents, she called the student “a contradiction.” And then (as if it couldn’t get any worse), the next day Mattingly made this 12-year-old student ride in the back of the bus, and wouldn’t let any of her friends talk to her.

That essentially earns Mattingly the title of the most tactless school bus driver in the country. But the situation gets even worse, and ends up with this 12-year-old student suspended from the bus for three days, just for sticking up for her same-sex parents.

After this bus driver called the student a “contradiction,” the student got a little sassy. She called the bus driver a “jerk,” and went back to her seat. Not necessarily the best thing to do, though in the grand scheme of things, the word “jerk” is itself pretty harmless, especially after a bus driver just ridiculed your parents.

But that “jerk” comment really got the Assistant Principal at Crosby Middle School in a dither. That principal, Angela Allen, called the student’s parents to talk about the bus situation, and to explain why the school was justified in booting the 12-year-old girl off the bus for three days. Assistant Principal Allen told the parent that the student was being “smart.” (As in smart-alecky.)

When the parent tried to explain to Principal Allen that the only reason the girl called the bus driver a “jerk” was because the driver was making fun of her family, Principal Allen told the parent that this student needs to be tougher.

“Assistant Principal Angela Allen stated my daughter should simply ignore such comments and grow some thicker skin,” the parent said, according to KentuckyLGBT.org.

Now I’m sorry, but doesn’t that sound a little ass backwards here? This 12-year-old student is supposed to just sit down and shut up when a bus full of kids are making homophobic comments, and an adult bus driver has the audacity to make fun of her family? Yet the bus driver blows a gasket over being called a “jerk.” Am I missing something here?

Because I thought it was a bus driver’s responsibility, not to mention an Assistant Principal’s responsibility, to make sure that students were safe, and that they didn’t have to deal with threatening, disparaging comments or name-calling. Keep in mind that the bus driver here is an adult, as is the Assistant Principal. Their response to homophobic language is to … blame the student who complained about it, and tell her to get some thicker skin?

Talk about a school FAIL. And that’s something that’s not lost on the Kentucky Equality Federation, which is now working with the student and her parents to demand some justice from the school. What do they want? They want the school bus driver to be assigned to a different route, so that this student can feel safe on her bus again, and they want Assistant Principal Allen to issue an apology for her ridiculous comment that this student should just shut up and sit down when it comes to homophobic language.

The Kentucky Equality Federation will be filing official complaints in Louisville. Meanwhile, if you want to shoot Assistant Principal Allen a message right now, demanding that she apologize for her reaction to this situation and demanding that the bus driver be assigned, click here.

This is about keeping students safe. As Jordan Palmer with the Kentucky Equality Federation said, “The audacity of a school bus driver to say such a thing to a child is appalling and shows the bigotry gay and lesbian parents face … The school certainly is not giving ‘an environment that fosters self-discipline and self direction’ as stated on their website.”

So demand that the school shape up. This is about keeping students safe. That should be the bus driver’s main responsibility, and it should be Assistant Principal Allen’s job, too.

The gay rights editor of Change.org has created an action alert demanding action on the issue.

New Development

In an email released today, Richard Jones with Kentucky Equality Federation stated: “Kentucky Equality Federation will not standby and permit you to dig up things against a child just so you can retaliate against said CHILD because a bus driver called her lesbian parents a “contradiction.” We are prepared to hold protests outside of your school on public property and demand an apology from you.” Apparently the school is now trying to punish the child for something she denies saying more than 1 month ago.

Kentucky Equality Federation President Jordan Palmer was direct in his response: “Ms. Allen, you are attempting to punish this child because of her complaint against the school bus driver, trying to find any and everything you can, thereby in my opinion showing your own prejudice simply because her mother is a lesbian (her father is in U.S. Armed forces in a foreign country). Your overall tone in the meeting with Ms. Reeves and her daughter is also, in my opinion, unprofessional and hostile.”

Conversation Recorded

What the assistant principal did not know during her meeting today with the lesbian parents of the child in question was that the birth mother was recording the conversation and streaming it live to Kentucky Equality Federation.