Thirty-one homophobic parents are suing a school district in California for allowing lesbian pastor Arlene Nehring to speak at a local high school during their Days of Diversity week. From InsideBayArea.com:

In the anonymous e-mail that prompted the issue, the writer claimed Nehring disrupted instruction at Castro Valley High to give step-by-step instructions on how to become gay and transsexual. Nehring has denied the assertion.

Nehring was one of many guests invited to the high school’s annual Days of Diversity program, which is intended to expose students to different backgrounds, including Japanese culture, life as a cowboy and children in foster care.

Nehring who serves as pastor at Eden United Church of Christ in Hayward, is suspicious of the motives of Pacific Justice Institute, the legal firm handling the case on behalf of the parents. The Pacific Justice Institute is endorsed by media personalities Bill O’Reilly and Dr. Laura Schlessinger, and is the same organization that invoked Hitler during the Proposition 8 campaign, comparing those opposing Prop 8 to Nazis.

A court hearing has been tentatively scheduled for June 16.

Watch a video report from the local NBC affiliate:

Outside of Franklin County High School in Kentucky, students protested an email sent to their teachers instructing them not to allow homosexuals to use the restroom during class.

The email sent by Asst. Principal Karen Buzard was in response to an incident where two female students were caught kissing in the school restroom.

From Kentucky Equality Federation (KEF):

“I have been in contact with one of the parents of the children involved in the protest, and we support and encourage their constitutional right to assemble peacefully,” stated Kentucky Equality Federation President Jordan Palmer. “We call on the media to investigate this issue further and shed light on the discrimination gays and lesbians face throughout the Commonwealth. Kentucky Equality Federation will also be contacting the other parents of the children involved in today’s protest.”

Laura Reed, Managing Director of KEF is concerned because they have also received complaints from other counties.

“I’d like to know what level this mentality, that gay and lesbian students should not be treated equally is coming from. An incident in one county could be called an isolated incident, but we now have similar reports in three other Kentucky Counties. I’d certainly like to know what Education Secretary Helen W. Mountjoy has to say about these incidents.”

How odd. According to the school’s website, April is the month for tolerance. Doesn’t sound like a very tolerant school if you ask me.

More at Kentucky Equality Federation.

And now another fine example of bigotry and intolerance from the great wackadoo state of Texas. Richard Mullins, history and government teacher for over 30 years was suspended for being a “suspected atheist” and a liberal.

Mullins on the angry mother of the student making the accusations…

She accused me of being an atheist, saying I was too liberal, and that I allowed the students to talk about inappropriate things in the classroom. I told her that occasionally students would get on topics and say things, but I was unable to censor them before they were able to say them. She said that I called her daughter a name and I denied the accusation. But then she said that I didn’t believe in god and shouldn’t be teaching. She also said that she had spoken to 3 other board members who agreed with her that I shouldn’t be teaching because I was too liberal and I was an atheist.

After the principal of the school suspended Mullins…

I later had conversations with parents and a person who lives in the community, who informed me that the principal had met with the minister of the local church and had discussed my suspension with him. I also later received information from REDACTED,a “SCHOOL EMPLOYEE-POSITION REDACTED”, that the minister was now subbing at the school and that he had heard that he would be taking my position, or if I returned he would be co-teaching with me.

There have been a number of rumors in our community now concerning inappropriate behavior: high school girls coming to my class to supposedly smoke marijuana, all kinds of accusations made by the members of the missionary baptist church at which this minister is the preacher. In the January 24th letter from Mr. Richard Turner, my principal, I was also informed that my suspension had been extended indefinitely.

After the suspension, 100 of 103 students refused to sign a petition listing charges against Mullins, and now the principal of the school has forbade students from taking any action that would get Mullins reinstated.

For more information, Mullins’ complete statement and an article in the Beaumont Enterprise.