My school district is being sued in federal court. The story might be paywalled, so I’ll quote a bit more liberally than I usually do:

A parent filed suit in federal court March 23, saying the Grosse Pointe Public School System violated his First Amendment right to free speech and also defamed him when it banned him from district buildings after he posted a video critical of a LGBTQ+ flag in a classroom and suggested the teachers were indoctrinating students.

According to the suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Detroit, Gary Pruitt was attending his child’s back to school night at Parcells Middle School in September 2024 when he saw LGBTQ+ flags in the school. He contacted the principal to ask what was being taught to students. The principal referred him to the district’s interim superintendent, who suggested he contact the school board.

…Later that fall, Pruitt posted a video of the flag in a classroom to a Facebook group for district parents. In the video, he said the flag represented “radical programming being forced upon children by adults.”

He also posed a question: “Do you want to continue to let these groomer teachers push their distorted worldview upon your children … or would you like to stand with us in speaking out against it?”

Afterward, the district banned Pruitt from its school buildings and other district facilities, with, Pruitt said in the lawsuit, police showing up at his home to deliver a letter informing him of the ban. Pruitt said the middle school posted a photo of him in the middle school office, identifying him as a trespasser, which caused other students to ridicule his child.

Pruitt saw the flag during back-to-school night, and later entered the school (seemingly after hours) and walked the halls until he found it, shooting video all the while, giving running commentary as he did, then posted it on Facebook. Today he wonders why the school won’t let him back in.

I keep thinking about the word “emboldened.” The worst people in the country are feeling emboldened now. They want veto power over everything they don’t like. Tolerance? What’s that? If there’s a gay pride flag somewhere in my kid’s school, that just means SOMEONE is telling SOMEONE that being gay or lesbian or bi or whatever isn’t a hanging offense, WHICH IS NOT WHAT I’M TEACHING THEM AT HOME AND IT WILL NOT BE TOLERATED.

It’s true that parents go a little nuts around middle school time, when kids start to be more sexual. (I do not believe in a latency period, Dr. Freud.) It’s freaky when you realize that one day your little girl will probably have sex with someone before she marries him, or your son might be interested in boys more than girls. I recall getting Kate the HPV shot when she was…about 12, I think. There was a little shudder, thinking that my baby would eventually be someone else’s, and not in the same sense. But I recognized it as normal, acknowledged it and let it go. Some people can’t do that.

Why do these folks live in cities, I often wonder. Move to some rural outpost and tie your kid to a fencepost like a dog. Not too many pride flags there. (The same percentage of gay people, however. And groomers.)

Grr.

I’m in a crabby mood, as you can see. The rest of my week is going to be pretty busy, so this may be it until the weekend. Or maybe not! One never knows. Enjoy the midweek.