Homophobic Utah teacher sacked after telling 11-year-old boy that getting adopted by two dads is 'nothing to be thankful for'
CEDAR HILLS, UTAH: A substitute teacher in Utah was immediately relieved of her duties after she chastized an 11-year-old student for saying he was thankful for his two dads this Thanksgiving and said: "homosexuality is wrong."
The incident unfolded at the Deerfield Elementary School in Cedar Hills, in northern Utah County, in the week before the holiday, according to the Salt Lake Tribune, after the substitute teacher, who has not been identified, asked the boy's class: "What are you thankful for this year?"
While most of the students gave the standard answer, the 11-year-old, who was in the process of being adopted by his dads Louis van Amstel and his husband Josh, said he was "thankful I'm finally going to be adopted by my two dads."
The response reportedly did not sit well with the teacher, who snapped and said, "Why on Earth would you be happy about that?" and told him, "That's nothing to be thankful for." For the next 10 minutes, she then lectured the class of 30 about "how homosexuality is wrong" and "two men living together is a sin."
However, three girls in the class were quick to jump to the boy's defense and asked her to stop multiple times. When she refused, they walked out of the class to get the principal, who had the teacher escorted out of the building even as she continued to argue her point.
Van Amstel, previously a dancer on 'Dancing with the Stars,' explained he was immediately informed about the incident by school officials and took to Twitter to out the teacher for bullying his son. "She also tried to blame our son and told him that it was his fault that she went off," he said.
He said he appreciates the three girls who stood up for his son, as well as the school's quick response, but asked how such a teacher had been allowed to practice the profession in the first place. "It’s absolutely ridiculous and horrible what she did," he said.
Van Amstel also revealed that his son told them he understood what the teacher was saying, but did not report it because he had failed two adoptions before and didn't want his dads to rethink their decision as their final court hearing came up on December 19.
"He was so fearful that this could make us think that we don’t want to adopt him," the dad said, tearfully. "That’s definitely not going to happen. But this situation really hurt him. This person really hurt us."