Excerpt:
A former “Teacher of the Year” in Mount Dora, Fla. has been suspended and could lose his job after he voiced his objection to gay marriage on his personal Facebook page.
Jerry Buell, a veteran American history teacher at Mount Dora High School, was removed from his teaching duties this week as school officials in Lake County investigate allegations that what he posted was biased towards homosexuals.
“We took the allegations seriously,” said Chris Patton, a communication officer with Lake County Schools. “All teachers are bound by a code of special ethics (and) this is a code ethics violation investigation.”
Patton said the school system received a complaint on Tuesday about something Buell had written last July when New York legalized same sex unions. On Wednesday, he was temporarily suspended from the classroom and reassigned.
Patton said Buell has taught in the school system for 22 years and has a spotless record. Last year, he was selected as the high school’s “Teacher of the Year.”
[…]According to the school system, what Buell wrote on his private account was disturbing. They were especially concerned that gay students at the school might be frightened or intimidated walking into his classroom. Patton also disputed the notion that Buell’s Facebook account is private.
“He has (more than) 700 friends,” he said. “How private is that – really? Social media can be troubling if you don’t respect it and know that just because you think you are in a private realm – it’s not private.”
Buell’s attorney strongly disagreed and accused the school system of violating his First Amendment rights.
“The school district is being anti-straight, anti-First Amendment and anti-personal liberty,” said Horatio Mihet, an attorney with the Liberty Counsel. “The idea that public servants have to whole-heartedly endorse homosexual marriage is repugnant to the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution,” Mihet told Fox News Radio.
“All he did was speak out on an issue of national importance and because his comments did not fit a particular mold, he is now being investigated and could possibly lose his job. What have we come to?”
Buell said he does not know the individual who filed the complaint, but the past week has caused his family “heartache.”
“To try and say you could lose your job over speaking about something in the venue that I did in the manner that I did is not just a knee-jerk reaction,” he said. “It’s a violent reaction to one person making a complaint.”
But Patton said the school system has an obligation to take the comments seriously. He said Buell will not be allowed back in the classroom “until we do all the interviews and do a thorough job of looking at everything – past or previous writings.”
To accomplish that, he said people have been sending the school system screenshots of Buell’s Facebook page.
“Just because you think it’s private, other people are viewing it,” Patton said, noting that the teacher’s Facebook page also contained numerous Bible passages.
Mihet said he was livid.
“These are not fringe ideas that Mr. Buell espoused on his personal Facebook page,” he told Fox News Radio. “They are mainstream textbook opposition to homosexual unions – and now he’s been deemed unfit to teach children because he opposes gay marriage? My goodness.” Buell believes the school system is trying to send a message to Christian teachers.
“There is an intimidation factor if you are a Christian or if you make a statement against it (gay marriage) you are a bigot, a homophobe, you’re a creep, you’re intolerant,” he said. “We should have the right to express our opinions and talk about things.”
I have a friend who is going through an encounter with the tolerant secular left right now. They tend to go after your job and your finances, and they do it publicly, in order to intimidate anyone else from speaking out against them.
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WINTERY KNIGHT 
This guy and his family need prayer. Big time !!! Situations like this are only going to accelerate the separation of the Churches ( I suspect government will threaten the tax exempt status ). The remnant will be decentralize and be a incredible nuisance.
What many don’t realize with a decline in morality comes a full out assault on kids ( who is going to complain / judge ?)
This very much reminds me of the Christians in Rome who lived in the catacombs so the kids would not be corrupted by society.
In regards to the remnant – Dan 11:32 come to mind “the people that do know their God will be strong, and deal valiantly.”
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This is awful. But unfortunately, it is commonplace now in our society. It demonstrates just on which side of the issue resides the truly intolerant.
Unless this teacher has his FB page set up so that anyone can view it, it’s as private as it needs to be. Regardless, as long as he made no threats or encouraged any harm to be inflicted upon homosexuals, his opinions are protected and his job ought to be as well. At the very least, no suspension should be enacted without a clear threat being demonstrated by the teacher’s words. If he had said he opposed sex outside of marriage, would he have been suspended for fear that students having sex would feel threatened or intimidated by entering his classroom? What a joke!
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It’s very important to the gay rights movement that they marginalize any other view than their own, and that your children believe their view. Teachers are targeted more than any other group, which is why we need to encourage school choice. Unfortunately, a significant part of the Christian Church is emotion-driven, and they vote for more and more funding for the public schools instead of voting for school choice. This is because the church does a lousy job of countering emotions like compassion, which lead to socialism, and the threats you now see.
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On the bright side, this may be the first example in history of a tenured teacher getting fired.
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Yet all you hear from the homosexualists is that state-sanctioning of same-sex behavior via faux marriage will not harm anyone. This is a perfect example of someone suffering harm due to his opposition to said faux marriage. The Gaystapo will stop at nothing when it comes to punishing all who disagree with them.
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Unless Buells’ comment was direct specifically at a homosexual individual then this is absolutely outlandish and over the top. Not only is this a violation Buell’s 1st Admendment rights but the school’s investigation is harassment, plain and simple. How ironic it is that one of the defining principles of public education is to teach our young people differing views in order that they may think critically yet a teacher is being investigated for expressing his point of view on a controversial issue. I encourage Mr. Buell and his family to stand firm in their convictions. My prayers will be with them.
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And don’t forget that those same schools teach “tolerance” – but they don’t want to practice it.
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