LAFAYETTE, Louisiana (AP) -- A 7-year-old boy was scolded and forced to write "I
will never use the word 'gay' in school again" after he told a classmate about
his lesbian mother, the American Civil Liberties Union alleged Monday.
Second-grader Marcus McLaurin was waiting for recess November 11 at Ernest
Gaullet Elementary School when a classmate asked about Marcus' mother and
father, the ACLU said in a complaint.
Marcus responded he had two mothers because his mother is gay. When the
other child asked for explanation, Marcus told him: "Gay is when a girl likes
another girl," according to the complaint.
A teacher who heard the remark scolded Marcus, telling him "gay" was a "bad
word" and sending him to the principal's office. The following week, Marcus
had to come to school early and repeatedly write: "I will never use the word
'gay' in school again."
A phone message left for Lafayette Parish schools superintendent James
Easton was not immediately returned.
The ACLU is demanding the case be removed from Marcus' file and that the
school apologize to the boy and his mother, Sharon Huff.
"I was concerned when the assistant principal called and told me my son had
said a word so bad that he didn't want to repeat it over the phone," Huff
said. "But that was nothing compared to the shock I felt when my little boy
came home and told me that his teacher had told him his family is a dirty
word."
