The Headline Is All Wrong

A girl was suspended from a Christian school because her family did not live up to the policy that requires that at least one parent may not engage in practices “immoral or inconsistent with a positive Christian life style, such as cohabitating without marriage or in a homosexual relationship. These are the rules and the family did not follow them because the girl’s mother is a lesbian and has a live in lesbian girlfriend. You would not know this because the headline read:

“School Expels Girl for Having Gay Parents”

The truth is, she was expelled because her family did not follow the policy of the school. In fact, the family deliberately deceived the school in this regard because the two women have been together for 22 years so it is not like the girl was already in school when the mother started the relationship. This is the kind of BS that has people believing that Bill Clinton’s problems were about sex when in fact they were about perjury.

The fact is, the Los Angeles Times used this headline to make a statement. If the school said that the child was expelled because her parents did not follow the dress code policy we would never hear about it. But since the policy infraction involved a gay couple it gets distorted. If this is actually newsworthy, then the headline might have read, “Girl Suspended For Family Violation of a School Policy.” It just does not sell as many papers.

The family has decided not to fight the ruling probably because they know they are wrong. I would suggest that if the school wants to make sure that they don’t have future trouble they change the policy to “the parent with whom the student lives…” The way it is written one could argue that if her father is not in violation then she may attend.

I think it is a shame the girl is punished for the behavior of her parent but these are the rules.

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One Response to “The Headline Is All Wrong”

  1. Adam says:

    This is just an issue of spin. It’s another downside of a media system rooted in corporate America.

    It’s always interesting to me to watch how people spin issues in politics. It’s really a fine art.