Gay rights activists are calling on community members to protest at a New Jersey school board meeting to take action against a Union Township high school teacher who allegedly made anti-gay remarks on her Facebook.
New Jersey LGBT rights group Garden State Equality is sponsoring a rally and protest at Union High school Tuesday night, according to the group's Facebook page. GSE also noted last week that people sent hundreds of emails and made numerous calls to the Union Township Board of Education in protest.
"On Tuesday night, tell the Union Township School Board that it is wrong for a teacher to spew anti-LGBT hatred on Facebook in her official capacity as a teacher -- she identified herself as a teacher at Union High School," GSE posted on Facebook Monday. "Posting in that capacity, she said being gay is a cancer and that she has zero tolerance for it."
Viki Knox, a 49-year-old special education teacher and adviser to Union High's student prayer group, reportedly posted on Facebook that homosexuality is "a perverted spirit that has existed from the beginning of creation," and a "sin" that "breeds like cancer."
Response has been strong since the news of Knox's alleged Facebook posts went public. The Star-Ledger's editorial board, and opinion writers like Record editorial columnist Alfred Doblin, have called for the teacher's dismissal.
The offending Facebook thread has since been removed from the site, but New Jersey LGBT rights group Garden State Equality has obtained a PDF copy of the Facebook exchange, as well as an image of the school display, from John paragon, a lawyer and former Union Township councilman and municipal judge.
Also last week, Alabama special education teacher Jeremy Hollinger faced criticism for allegedly posting content on Facebook that mocks his special needs students.
In August, Florida high school "Teacher of the Year" Jerry Buell was suspended for an anti-gay post he wrote on his Facebook page denouncing New York's decision to allow same-sex marriage. He was reinstated shortly following school investigations.