Daphne Beasley, the principal of Hollis F. Price Middle College High School in South Memphis, is accused of outing a pair of gay students who had wanted to keep both their orientation and their relationship secret. The actions of Beasley were not accidental: she kept a list of all "couples" in full public view in her office then made it clear to the parents of one student that gays would not be tolerated in her school. Somehow, I doubt that this intolerance, bigotry, and hatred is motivated by atheism — in the American South, such attitudes towards gays are motivated entirely by Christianity.

One of the young men, Nicholas, an 11th grader who just made the Dean's List, spoke with Eyewitness News Everywhere. "It was actually frightening," he says, "to see a list with my name on it where not just other teachers could see but students as well."

Nicholas says his teachers and other students treat him differently as a result of Principal Beasley's decision and that he and Andrew have both had to deal with verbal assaults.   Nicholas was also not allowed to go on a trip to New Orleans to help rebuild homes because, as one of his teacher's explained, he would "embarrass" the school by engaging in gay affection.

"I really feel that my personal privacy was invaded," Nicholas says.  "I mean, Principal Beasley called my mother and outed me to my mother!"

Source: Eyewitness News

So who went to New Orleans? A student who hadn't even applied for the chance. Clearly, gays can't be trusted to do community work and charity work because someone might learn that they are gay, thus leading to all sorts of problems — like perhaps learning that being gay isn't evil. Principal Daphne Beasley appears determined, though, to teach everyone in the community that homosexuality is evil. In my opinion, the only "evil" here resides in bigoted Christians like Deaphne Beasley, especially when they have been given a little power and then proceed to abuse it in order to oppress and harm groups they dislike.

Although "the list" was reserved for students who were believed to be couples, the gay students had been very careful to avoid revealing their relationship in school. They were only added on the basis of a rumor which Daphne Beasley heard from someone else — it doesn't sound like she even cared enough to ask them directly, though it certainly wouldn't have been any of her business.

Although the boys had never been observed by any school staff engaging in any sort of display of affection, the principal called Nicholas’s mother Nichole.

According to Nichole, the principal said things like “Did you know your son is gay?” repeatedly and went on to say that she didn’t like gay people and wouldn’t tolerate homosexuality at her school.

Both students say they’ve had to deal with verbal harassment from both teachers and students since word got out around the school about their principal’s actions.

Source: 365Gay

According to the ACLU, Principal Daphne Beasley ordered the two boys to not walk or study together. On what basis did she think she had the authority to give such an order? She certainly didn't do it in order to protect their safety — she only did it because the two boys are gay. She made it clear that she didn't like the idea of gays being together, so her decision and order had no more of a basis than her own petty bigotry.

What would have happened if Daphne Beasley had ordered the schools only two known Jewish students to not have contact with each other, and after saying that she didn't like Jews and wouldn't tolerate Judaism in her school? What would have happened if a white principle had ordered as school's only two black students not to associate with each other after saying that she didn't like blacks and wouldn't tolerate black culture in her school? The bigotry of such situations is obvious, and what Principal Daphne Beasley did was no less bigoted, hateful, immoral, and illegal.

Remember, though, that it's atheists in America who are really the intolerant ones when they dare to criticize religion generally or Christianity in particular for encouraging such bigotry. Atheists are wrong to focus on such situations, even though the attitudes expressed by Beasley are shared by large numbers of Christians. Instead, atheists are supposed to pretend that metaphorical forms of Christianity adhered to by a few academics and philosophers lacking any real-world influence is the only "true" Christianity.