A teachers union located smack in the middle of Michigan has sparked a whole lot of controversy and angered folks in the local community by sporting what they are calling “equality badges” that, despite the name, are suggesting they actually favor certain groups based on their race, sexual orientation, and physical ability. Because, as we know, the left is not really about equal rights, but about protected classes of people, which means those individuals get more rights than you and I.
“On Monday night, hundreds of people piled into the local public library in Fenton, Michigan, about an hour northwest of Detroit. There, the Fenton Area Public Schools district held a meeting and addressed concerns about the badges,” TheBlaze reported.
Those in favor of the badges claim that they were designed to help promote the Holy Grail of progressivism, “inclusivity.”
“It’s a way to show our students that we support them and we see them,” Chuck Miller, a Fenton High School chemistry teacher and the vice president of the Fenton Education Association, went on to say concerning the badges. “The more our students are seen, the more they feel they have a community and support, the better they do, not just academically but socially.”
During the meeting, Superintendent Heidi Ciesielski expressed a similar sentiment.
“Building that environment means having schools and classrooms where all students feel seen, known, cared about, included and supported,” Ciesielski remarked. “Where diversity of thought, culture, and background that defines us all is welcome and where all children and adults feel they belong.”
“Surely, we can all agree on that,” she insisted.
“But some did not agree. On the badge, the word ‘equality’ is spelled using various symbols, many of which are associated with far-left activism, including the ‘black power’ fist, pride flag colors, and an amalgam of the symbol for male and female, which may imply transgenderism or intersexuality,” TheBlaze stated.
One man, who remains unidentified as of this writing, spoke up at the meeting and explained his concerns about the badge, saying, “The colorful symbols used to spell out the word ‘equality’ are in most cases age-inappropriate, they are culturally divisive, not inclusive of all students, disparaging of those not listed, potentially racist, and the symbol representing the letter ‘T’ promotes an absolute falsehood.”
Other parents in the community also expressed concerns that these badges sexualize children.
“We feel that it represents sexuality, and like, maybe encouraging conversations about sexuality with minor kids,” a woman identified only as Julie, stated during the meeting.
Julie then said she’s a supporter of the LGBTQ community, but is still concerned that the badge might be crossing the line regarding district policy.
Union members waved the parents’ concern off as if it were no big deal.
“Sexual orientation is not sex,” Laura Wagonlander, an elementary teacher in Fenton, responded. “I have a picture of my family in my class. It announces my sexual orientation because it shows me with my husband.”
A high school student from the area took an opportunity to speak out in support of the badge.
“The badge makes me feel as a student more loved, heard, seen and cared for,” Avary LaClear went on to say. “They represent compassion in our community.”
“The Michigan Education Association, which strongly supports the badge, claimed that 25 out of 30 individuals who spoke at the meeting favored the badge as well. It also noted that many meeting attendees wore the color red in support of the teachers’ union, though at least some of those wearing red were union members. Other supporters wore clothing that demonstrated an affiliation with the pride movement,” TheBlaze continued.
The school board did not take action concerning the badges one way or another during the meeting. The next meeting is scheduled to take place on May 1.