WATCH: Principal caught on video popping “Gay is OK” support balloons
Bipul Singh was seen popping balloons delivered to his school in support of a student's LGBTQ artwork that had been removed.
The principal of a Georgia elementary school was caught on video popping balloons sent to the school in support of a student who created a rainbow-colored drawing reading “Gay is OK.”
The principal had previously come under fire for deciding to remove the student’s pro-gay artwork from a bulletin board.
Surveillance footage captured last month inside Oglethorpe Avenue Elementary School, in Athens, Georgia, and later posted to YouTube, shows school principal Bipul Singh popping 10 multicolored balloons that had been delivered to the school with a note addressed to him and to Vice Principal Sandra Scott.
Singh is seen reading the note, which mentions that the balloons were delivered “in support of of a student who created LGBTQ artwork in class,” writes the Athens Banner-Herald. He then pops the balloons before tossing the entire package in the trash.
Singh and Scott reportedly forced a classroom teacher to take down a student’s “Gay is OK” drawing, featuring an umbrella against the backdrop of a rainbow Pride flag, after another parent complained about its inclusion in a classroom artwork display.
The teacher initially resisted taking down the artwork on the grounds that it was unfair to censor this particular student’s brand of speech, but Singh and Scott allegedly told the teacher to take it down. At some point, one of the administrators equated leaving the drawing up with displaying a Nazi flag, according to Atlanta TV station WXIA-TV.
In an audio recording of the teacher speaking with Singh, posted to YouTube by Jeff Jackson, the attorney representing the family of the anonymous child whose artwork was allegedly censored, Singh claims that the picture with that wording “imposes one preference over other students’ opinions,” and therefore must be removed from public displays.
He suggests that the student should place the drawing in binder or another a private place where it cannot be viewed by other students.
The teacher agrees to tell the student and explain why the artwork can’t be displayed, but denies fostering conversations about LGBTQ issues, saying that the topic is being raised by children independently, based on their conversations at home.
The teacher even says she’d allow the student whose parent complained to make a piece of artwork celebrating heterosexuality for balance, so long as it’s not “suggesting hate upon another community.” But Singh can be heard on the audio recording defending prior comments comparing the Pride-themed artwork to displaying a swastika.
Jackson told the Banner-Herald that his client has not taken any legal action against the district yet, and said he is trying to resolve the issue amicably without involving the courts.
In a letter to the community dated Feb. 1, Interim Superintendent Brannon Gaskins said that he would meet with the faculty at Oglethorpe Avenue Elementary School and community partners “to acknowledge the pain this has caused our district and the Athens-Clarke County community.” District officials have confirmed this meeting already took place.
After the story about the controversy broke, some people called for the removal of Singh and Scott in an online petition, which has garnered almost 1,600 signatures. Singh and Scott have not been disciplined and remain in their current positions, and Gaskins wrote in his letter to the community that he did not support “visible disciplinary action” against the administrators involved in the controversy.
The removal of the artwork and its comparison to Nazi symbolism has drawn criticism from county officials, LGBTQ groups, and Jewish groups, including Athens Pride, Georgia Equality, the Anti-Defamation League’s Southeast chapter, and Sojourn (Southern Jewish Resource Network for Gender and Sexual Diversity).
When news of the incident first broke, Athens Pride questioned how the school could claim to be a safe space for all children, including LGBTQ-identifying youth, arguing officials are sending students an implicit message that there is something wrong with being LGBTQ or that it must be censored.
“We talk often about how inclusive Athens is,” the LGBTQ rights group said in a statement. “We must make sure that inclusiveness is found in the aisles of our businesses and the classrooms in our schools.”
In a subsequent Facebook post, Athens Pride said that it would continue to push the school to adopt policies and language that would “prevent an incident like this from occurring” in the future.
Watch the video below:
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