Sam Spade's San Francisco

Did you read this story in today's San Francisco Chronicle?

Have you seen this poster?

Five teachers at San Leandro High School have refused to comply with a school district order to display a rainbow-flag poster in their classrooms that reads, "This is a safe place to be who you are," because they say homosexuality violates their religious beliefs, Principal Amy Furtado said.

"This is not about religion, sex or a belief system," said district Superintendent Christine Lim, who initiated the poster policy. "This is about educators making sure our schools are safe for our children, regardless of their sexual orientation."

Superintendent Lim is dead-on right. The teachers who are protesting the posters are trying to enforce their personal religious beliefs on the district, the school and the students. These teachers are placing their own personal preferences and choices ahead of the safety of school students. They should be forcefully disciplined, admonished and corrected immediately!

It is against my own spiritual conviction to approve of, endorse, or allow racism or homophobia anyplace it is encountered. There are students in the district who feel as I do. Why do our religious and spiritual convictions take back seat to those of a few crackpot prune-hearted teachers? (prunes, by the way, are dried-up and wrinkled ... just like those teacher's hearts)

This is all happening in San Leandro. It is unlikely anyone in the San Francisco Unified School District would be so stupid as to follow suit. If we do have any rabid Bible-pounding Christian fanatics teaching in SFUSD schools they tend to keep their hate-thinking to themselves at the risk of losing their jobs.

But what about this cancer in San Leandro?

San Leandro is a Bay Area community and that's why I'm mentioning it here. They have homophobes and conservative Christian fanatics trying to impose their own small-minded values on Bay Area children in their care. This is completely unacceptable here.

Superintendent Christine Lim needs to gag those teachers and let them know in the strongest terms possible that their values are not the values of the greater San Francisco Bay Area. We in the San Francisco Bay Area protect our children from injustice, we accept them for who they are, and we defend their rights to their individuality and their identity.

Call Superintendent Lim and give her your support in disciplining those renegade teachers and ending this shameful and embarrassing anomaly in Bay Area education. Her number is . You may email her at:

You can read the original Chroncle story here.