Anti-Gay Liberty Counsel Attorney For Teacher Suspended For Anti-Gay Facebook Post

Liberty Counsel, not yet designated a hate group (give them time) is now defending the Florida teacher Jerry Buell, who was suspended for a post he wrote on his Facebook wall about New York’s same-sex marriage law. The ACLU has issued a statement supporting the lawsuit. Buell has been the subject of heated First Amendment debate around the country for saying he “almost threw up” when he heard the news about New York’s marriage equality law passing. Buell also called same-sex marriage “sin,” and part of a larger “cesspool.”

Buell, awarded “teacher of the year” last year, tells CNN in this video (below) that all the students he teaches know that he respects them as “children of God.” Which may or may not be something that children want to be viewed as, and that certainly is a potential violation of the first amendment.

Hate group leader Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association wrote, as we here at tNCRM published yesterday, that,

“Buell [the Florida teacher] correctly observes that this is an all-​out attack on Christian teachers and a Christian worldview. “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. We should have the right to express our opinions and talk about things.”

Of course, lost on all is the simple fact that an LGBTQ student most likely will not feel safe in Buell’s classroom, and should not have to be behind closed doors with someone in a position of leadership, power, and authority, who thinks who you are might make them throw up.

It’s important to remember, teachers are in schools for the kids. Not the other way around. Something that the Right is constantly preaching when it comes to unions and money but not when it comes to gays and safety.

Ironically, Buell’s Liberty Counsel attorney says the idea that Buell could lose his job over something he did as a private citizen is “repugnant.” Of course, the Liberty Counsel no doubt if asked would support the concept that gay men and lesbians, and bisexual and transgender folks should not even be allowed in the classroom as teachers because what they do is “repugnant,” right?

Remember this is the Liberty Counsel, home to J. Matt Barber, the former hate group employee who has written, “few leftist organizations in existence today can compete with the ACLU in terms of demonstrated hostility toward what the Declaration of Independence describes as ‘certain unalienable rights’ with which Americans are ‘endowed by their Creator’.”

Hold that thought.

Then remember that Barber also said that “kids who are engaging in homosexual behavior often look inward and know that what they are doing is unnatural, is wrong, is immoral, and so they become depressed and the instances of suicide can rise there as well.”

Towleroad reports today,

“The anti-gay Liberty Counsel stepped in to defend Buell. This week the ACLU joined Liberty Counsel in defending Buell.

The ACLU released a statement to the Sentinel in defense of Jerry Buell, a Mount Dora High School teacher who wrote a Facebook post calling same-sex unions a “cesspool” that made him want to throw up.

“The First Amendment protects his right to share his views – offensive or not,” said Howard Simon, executive director of the ACLU of Florida, in a statement. “Even though we strongly disagree with his opinion, especially considering how hard the ACLU fought to win marriage equality in New York, Mr. Buell should not be subject to disciplinary action by his employer for expressing his views.”

One wonders if this is the first time the Liberty Counsel and the ACLU agree?

Note: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated the ACLU was also representing Buell. They merely issued a statement.