School removes two gay students' quotes from yearbook to 'protect' others from offence
A school has removed the quotes of its two openly gay students from a yearbook amid concerns they could “potentially offend” people.
High school graduates Joey Slavinsky and Thomas Swartz said they were not told their quotes were going to be removed from the Kearney High School yearbook, KCTV5 reports.
Joey’s quote read, “of course I dress well. I didn't spend all that time in the closet for nothing”.
While Thomas’ said, “If Harry Potter taught us anything, it’s that no one should have to live in the closet”.
But the school district in Kansas City, Missouri, deemed the quotes offensive, and had them both removed.
Kansas City District Superintendent of Schools Dr Bill Nicely said, “In an effort to protect our students, quotes that could potentially offend another student or groups of students are not published.”
Dr Nicely also acknowledged removing the quotes was a “mistake” and the decision “had the unintentional consequence of offending the very students the practice was designed to protect”.
But while the school district has reached out to the two boys and their families, the pair said what happened to them was wrong.
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“I'm comfortable in my own skin and with who I am,” Joey said.
“It felt like the district took that from me.”
The two graduates plan on making stickers with their quotes for their friends’ yearbooks.
