"Brokeback" School Viewing Draws Lawsuit

(CBS/AP)  A girl and her grandparents have sued the Chicago Board of Education, alleging that a substitute teacher showed the R-rated film "Brokeback Mountain" in class.

The lawsuit claims that Jessica Turner, 12, suffered psychological distress after viewing the movie in her class at Ashburn Community Elementary School last year.

According to the lawsuit, the substitute teacher in Turner's eighth-grade class last May was Mary Buford, the Chicago Tribune reported. Allegedly, Buford told the class, "What happens in Ms. Buford's class stays in Ms. Buford's class" and had a student close the door, the newspaper reported.

The film, which won three Oscars, depicts two cowboys who conceal their homosexual affair.

Turner and her grandparents, Kenneth and LaVerne Richardson, are seeking around $500,000 in damages.

"It is very important to me that my children not be exposed to this," said Kenneth Richardson, Turner's guardian. "The teacher knew she was not supposed to do this."

According to the lawsuit filed Friday in Cook County Circuit Court, the video was shown without permission from the students' parents and guardians. Richardson had previously complained to school officials about reading material he said contained curse words.

"This was the last straw," he said. "I feel the lawsuit was necessary because of the warning I had already given them on the literature they were giving out to children to read."

Richardson said his granddaughter was traumatized after watching the film, telling him that "They made me watch this bad movie." He went to the school to speak to Buford, Richardson told the Tribune, but she refused to do so without her union representative.

Messages left over the weekend with school district officials were not immediately returned.

[ecuadoriana]

"What we need are more smelly, none-too-bright, emotionally stunted bigots who think a John Deere baseball cap is formal wear. Those are real American men, right there. ;-)"
Posted by jimibear at 02:08 PM : May 14, 2007

JIMIBEAR !!! I demand monetary compensation for the short circuiting of my keyboard from my morning cup of coffee snorting out my nose when I read your "suggestion"! I'd say $500,000 should do it.

You crack me up!

[klingon69]

who think a John Deere baseball cap is formal wear. Those are real American men, right there. ;-)
Posted by jimibear at 02:08 PM : May 14, 2007

Well ***, I got two, one fer everyday and one fer
speshul okasons. Ya know lak whan I maryed mah cuzzin.

[klingon69]

Teacher Unions wonder why parents want to pull their children out of public school, it is teachers like this that give public schools a bad name.
Posted by hopesurvives at 01:44 PM : May 14, 2007


And people wonder why I homeschool my child.

[ksd95]

It's not that I think it was okay for the teacher to show the movie--because of it's rating...not because it deals with homosexuality. In this day & age...children are going to know about homosexuality...there is no way around it. I don't think that the point that the men were gay in the movie should be the main concern of these people.

I also believe that they are asking for WAY TOO MUCH MONEY!!!!!!!!!!

[sofi2hot]

everyone has something to complain about now dont they???

[processor2]

TYPICAL

Wacko liberals will defend showing a movie (about a couple of ****'s) to a group of 12 year-olds, under the excuse of "academic freedom".

But if the movie had been about Jesus Christ, howls of protest and censorship would be heard from the very same Wacko left-wingers.

...

TYPICAL

[phoenix1218]

I don't know about anyone else, but this 12 girls' age is rather young to be in the 8th. grade. She must have skipped a grade to be 12 in the 8th. grade. If this is the case then I think she is probably smart enough to realize the movie for what it is and that the teacher is a moron for showing it and that if she was so 'traumatized' she could have walked stright to the principals or nurses office.

[phoenix1218]

The movie is rated R. That means, no one under 17 without a parent or guardian's approval and presence. Was even a permission slip signed? And it's a fictitious movie as well. Schools need to be about facts. Not agendas. Period.
Posted by hypnotoad72

Hypnotoad72,
Just so you know, movie theatres CAN allow kids under 17 into R rated movies. It is NOT a law, only voluntary, however most (if not all) theatres abides by the guidlines. As afr as showing an R Rated movie goes teachers ARE supposed to get signed permission slips from the parents/guardians.

[phoenix1218]

It was a stupid movie. Grandpa would be happy to know that one of the homosexual characters gets beaten to death at the end.
Posted by xfredmenzies

I have not seen this movie, nor do I care to. Not only was this teacher wrong for showing an R rated movie without parental permission but the content of the movie, illicit affairs (g@y or straight) and then to have a character beaten to death at the end. COME ON, even without the content of the movie overall watching someone get beat to death is traumatizing enough.

[phoenix1218]

That family is asking too little. They should be asking for tens of millions. Let the filth-stirring f@ggots go peddle their *** in the toilets. The filth-stirring f@ggots are opposed to the christian krap being taught to the children; so that they can brainwash the children with their filthy deviance. It's about time we begin to confine the f@ggots; because the sick b@stards continue to get more and more brazen as time goes by. Posted by Agnim

WOW, a LOT of hate there. The ONLY thing I agree with in this post was that people don't want christianity being taught to kids but it is (or appears to be) okay to teach h0m0sexuality to kids. THAT isn't right. If you are going to teach one, teach both. But seriously Agnim, go take some anger management classes or take some paxil, you need to chill!!!