Hutcherson Booed at Mt. Si High School MLK Assembly
Rev. Ken Hutcherson, a prominent opponent of gay rights in Washington State, was the guest speaker today at an assembly at Mt. Si High School, where he spoke about his experiences as a black man and was booed by the school’s Gay-Straight Alliance, pointedly questioned by a school teacher about his antipathy toward equality for gays and lesbians, and, Hutcherson says, made to feel “embarrassed.”
According to Hutcherson, the assembly, intended to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was arranged by his daughter, who is a senior at Mt. Si High.
In a phone interview this afternoon, Hutcherson told me that he couldn’t remember the exact question posed to him by the Mt. Si teacher, but that it was shouted from bleachers in the back of the school gymnasium, and was along the lines of challenging him for claiming to admire Dr. King but simultaneously being dismissive of the fight for equal rights for gays and lesbians.
“I think her deal was that I don’t believe in equal rights for everybody,” Hutcherson told me.
School officials could not immediately be reached for comment, but Hutcherson called the confrontation inappropriate. “I was embarrassed for my daughter, because she was the one who planned the assembly,” Hutcherson told me. “It was an assembly for the kids and for Martin Luther King, who pushed strongly for equality for skin color.”
Asked whether there is, in fact, a disconnect between the message of Dr. King (whose close adviser, Bayard Rustin, was gay) and his own efforts to fight against equal rights for gays and lesbians, Hutcherson expressed some frustration, telling me: “I guarantee you, my brother, you can say whatever you want about Martin Luther King, but he was not fighting for people’s rights in the bedroom. Do not go down that road with me. If you go down that road with me, you’re gonna get a fight.”
He then ended the interview.
Earlier in the interview, he expressed comfort with the kind of confrontation that occurred today, saying: “I take that all the time. It’s just part of the stand. But when it start affecting the kids that planned it and my daughter, I think that something else should be done. I think it was a disrespect for the kids.”
He also proposed a future meeting with the school’s gay-straight in which he would explain his views.
During his presentation, Hutcherson told me, he spoke mainly about his experience as a young black man growing up in the South. “I wasn’t even a person,” he told me. “All I was, was three-fifths of an individual.”
That appeared to be a reference to the Three-fifths Compromise of 1787, which stated that every American slave was to be counted as, essentially, three-fifths of a person. The “compromise” was repealed by the 13th Amendment in 1865.
DEVELOPING…"
Notably, Hutch's instinct, when challenged, was to threaten a fight.
More:
Notes from the Prayer Warrior
The subject line of this email from the Prayer Warrior was: “Controversy.” The issue at hand is explored here.
Thursday, 17 January 2008Today I was speaking at a public school about Rev. Martin Luther King, and was booed by members of the Gay Straight Alliance. One of the sponsors stood up and challenged me during the assembly. Then one of the teachers called a gay newspaper. [FACT CHECK: The teacher did not call The Stranger about the incident. —ES]
I have been quiet as a parent, but now the line has been crossed. Pray for wisdom as I deal with this situation!
On another note, tomorrow I will be a guest on the Rush Limbaugh Show between 2:00 - 3:00 EST, with my annual football discussion. Pray for this speaking opportunity.
Pastor Hutch"
We can only assume that since the line has been crossed an Antioch Bible Church subsidiary will be formed to take over the local school and force them to be more godly.
Hutch's football show makes about as much sense as Pat Robertson's- God's weatherman and Interstate 35 cleanser- appearance on Fox News this morning to discuss his godly predictions for 2008.
But wait! There's more!:
The View From Mt. Si
The Stranger’s Jonah Spangenthal-Lee jumped in a car this afternoon and headed out to Mt. Si High School to see what all the fuss was about.
The school’s principal, Randy Taylor, told Jonah that having Rev. Ken Hutcherson speak at today’s Martin Luther King, Jr., assembly was a fine idea.
“Hutch has a profound life history,” Taylor told Jonah. “All of the students of color were very appreciative of Dr. Hutcherson coming in and giving a speech.”
Taylor suggested that the members of the school’s Gay-Straight Alliance who were upset by Hutcherson’s appearance should have been able to separate Hutcherson’s speeches against gay rights from the speech he gave today about his experiences as a black man. The teachers who booed and publicly questioned Hutcherson, Taylor said, had behaved in a “very unprofessional” manner.
The school’s policy on bringing in speakers, according to Taylor, is: “If what they’re about is hate, prejudice, and violence, they don’t belong here.” He saw no conflict between that policy and inviting Hutcherson.
“Hutch’s message was very appropriate for our kids,” Taylor said. Asked whether it was appropriate for the school’s gay students, Taylor replied: “Well, you’ll have to ask the students that.”
Jonah spoke to a number of students who shared Taylor’s view that it was inappropriate to give Hutcherson such a poor reception.
A 17-year-old student named Quinn told Jonah that today’s events would further marginalize the Gay-Straight Alliance in a school that has a history of not being entirely friendly to gay students. “Subconsciously, people are going to start associating GSA with the ridiculous political correctness at the school,” Quinn said.
A 15-year-old student named Amanda told Jonah: “No one even knew [Hutcherson] was against gays. I don’t want to sound bad, but the majority of students at our school are against gay rights.”
Kit McCormick, an English teacher at Mt. Si who also acts as an adviser for the Gay-Straight Alliance, told Jonah that there is a considerable amount of “anti-gay sentiment” in the school’s community.
“I’m astonished this person was brought to the school to talk about equality,” McCormick said of Hutcherson. She added: “This is totally going to help me teach irony in my English class.”
During Mt. Si’s annual “Day of Silence,” which is meant to remind students about the difficulty of life in the closet, posters about the day have been ripped down, there have been some isolated incidents of gay students being shoved, and some people have shouted in the hallways: “Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.”
After this morning’s assembly, about 50 kids gathered in McCormick’s class for a GSA meeting—many more than usually show up. A 17-year-old GSA member named Lindsey told Jonah she was happy that a disturbance was caused during Hutcherson’s presentation. “Is anyone going to listen to us if we write a nice letter to the principal?” she asked. “I’m willing to be the bad guy because he’s the bad guy.”
For her part, McCormick, the adviser, said she was not interested in Hutcherson’s suggestion that he come back to the school to explain his positions to gay students. “I don’t want to sit down and talk with people who want to oppress entire groups of people,” she said.
Dave Hildebrand, spokesman for the umbrella organization that oversees the entire network of Gay-Straight Alliances in Washington State, said he supports the stand McCormick and her students took.
“I can see why they reacted the way they did,” Hildebrand said. “They’re right. Hutcherson has been vehemently against equality for individuals regardless of their orientation or identity. To have him jump on that soap box, and then on the other side do have him go around denouncing people for who they are, is just hypocrisy.”
In other Hutchnews, the good pastor STILL HAS NOT REVEALED THE NAMES OF HIS POWERFUL WHITE BACKERS IN HIS GLOBAL PLAN TO BRING MICROSOFT DOWN TO DESIGNING FAG-FREE, GODLY SOFTWARE. You brought it up in November, Pastor. Where's the beef?
Oh, and by the by-- what's with using Microsoft servers to build your AGN Financial Network website to bring MSFT to its knees? Surely you'd be all over Apple- oh, no, wait- they're in the Bay Area- Fag Central, eh? Sounds like a question for the Prayer Warriors- where to find queer-free software. Latvia?
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