Jerry Buell returns to the classroom
two days after he refused to apologize for Facebook comments he made
against a gay marriage law in New York.
According
to the Orlando
Sentinel, Buell has been reinstated by Lake County Schools
Superintendent Susan Moxley.
“If I did not stand up for my rights
after telling my students to stand up for their rights then I would
be a hypocrite,” the Mount Dora High School in South Florida
Teacher of the Year said on Wednesday. “It's been a lesson. It's
been a heck of lesson.”
Buell met privately with Moxley before
the decision was announced. Officials would not comment on whether
Buell had been reprimanded.
The social studies teacher wrote on his
Facebook profile that he “almost threw up” when he learned about
the law's approval, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
In the July 25 post, Buell called such
unions a sin and added that gay marriages were part of a “cesspool.”
“If they want to call it a union, go
ahead. But don't insult a man and woman's marriage by throwing it in
the same cesspool as sames-sex whatever,” Buell wrote.
Citing that it does not consider social
networks private, the school board suspended Buell from the
classroom.
Buell told Orlando CBS affiliate WKMG
that he had no plans to apologize for his remarks.
“I'm exercizing my rights, First
Amendment rights, guaranteed in the Constitution, supported by the
state of Florida … on Facebook,” Buell
said.
When asked if he believed a gay student
would feel comfortable coming to him for advise, Buell answered:
“Yes. Give me a chance.”
But moments later during the videotaped
interview, he added: “Do I apologize? No.”
Buell's class syllabus includes a
warning to students: “I teach God's truth, I make very few
compromises. If you believe you may have a problem with that, get
your schedule changed, 'cause I ain't changing!”