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“I refuse to stay silent!” That was Ken Hutcherson last year. This year, not a peep. Maybe Hutcherson finally recognizes that Washington is moving beyond his message of bigotry towards gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. After all, in 2009 Washington voters became the first in the nation to ratify a comprehensive domestic partnership law, and LGBT people have been added to the state’s anti-discrimination and hate crimes laws with the blessing of the electorate.In 2008, Hutcherson disrupted lessons at Mount Si High School in Snoqualmie, WA by calling for 1,000 of his “Prayer Warriors” to protest in front of the school on National Day of Silence.
On the National Day of Silence hundreds of thousands of students nationwide take a vow of silence to bring attention to anti-LGBT name-calling, bullying and harassment in their schools.
In years past, some kids reportedly stayed home rather than face the angry tension the Hutcherson’s presence created in the school. But Hutcherson’s ability to bully and intimidate school children is on the wane. The SnoValley Star quotes Mount Si Principal Randy Taylor saying “(Absences) seem to be trending downward.” Indeed, look at the stats for Mount Si HS’s National Day of Silence. About 9% are absent on an average day.
| Year | Pecent Absent |
| 2008 | 34 |
| 2009 | 23 |
| 2010 | 17 |
Morgan Myers, an officer of the school’s Gay Straight Alliance who participated in the day, had this assessment of the absenteeism, which has the ring of truth to it:
A lot of his friends decided not to come to school April 16, “which is a frustrating thing,” Myers said. While students do choose to skip school because of their opposition to the Day of Silence, Myers said there were probably some that “are using to get out of school. The vast majority just wants to skip.“
Ken Hutcherson reduced to a lame excuse to skip school. Lo, how the mighty have fallen!
9 Comments
I might be naiveBut it doesn’t seem too far fetched that HS students don’t need an excuse to ditch school, especially if they have fanatically stupid parents willing to go along with some religious nut’s agenda.
It might be advantageous to our movement to encourage the nuts to keep their offspring home as often as possible. Their lack of eductation might be useful to use in the future.
Well…I think he’s been fighting cancer over the last year, http://www.komonews.com/news/3…
While I can’t stand him or his message I wish him a healthy recovery.
Children are just children. If the parents insist on raising them to be bigoted towards the GLBT community and they turn out to be part of the GLBT community…
Well, I’m dealing with 2 young adults right now who were raised in very conservative religious households the same as me. One was home schooled from age 14 and has come out as Trans. They’re total innocents in this world.
Let’s not punish the children for the sins of the parents. Some of those kids are ours and we all know that education is OUR BEST tool to help them survive.
Mount Si watered down the Day of SilenceStudents were required to answer in class, and posters still were torn down….
It hasn’t stopped him from spewing hate.He keeps making public appearances and working against the existence of LGBT people. I wouldn’t wish cancer on anyone, but I have no pity for him just because he has it. Why? Because he uses the fact of his cancer (which he’s had almost 10 years) to leverage sympathy without in turn shedding a drop of compassion for LGBT people.
Trust meI really have no place for him in my life or heart at all. Believe me. I’m the most vindictive person you’ll ever meet. I’ve watched cancer destroy a person one cell at a time and it isn’t pretty. I’ve seen AIDS take too many of my friends at the earliest parts of their lives.
I’ve watched people like Ken Hutcherson gloat over my losses and claim that was God’s will.
It hurt then and it hurts now but I know that what Ken and his cohorts said was a lie. I knew then that people like Ken Hutcherson were only in it for control, money, power, revenge and the like.
As much as I’d like to say that Ken Hutcherson deserves cancer, I can’t.
As hard as I’d like to punch him in the face for damning a lot of wonderful long lost friends, I can’t.
I can only wish him recovery to spare the people around him from the pain of dealing with the losses I’ve seen.
Even if he does lose his battle, he’ll answer to a lot bigger people than me.
Personally, I wish him and his nothing but death and destruction. They have no place on this planet causing nothing but hatred, fear, and spreading lies and filth. They are what is wrong with America and for that matter most of christendom.
That’s not watered downParticipating students and teachers are able to make their point despite answering direct instruction-related questions in class. Did you read the comments of the students in article I linked to? Clearly, they made their point with their peers. Clearly, the community at large has taken notice since its inception.
As for posters being ripped down, that is beyond the control of the organizers of the Day of Silence.
I’m not sure why you are looking to find fault with the Mount Si Day of Silence. Its success is resounding. We should applaud the students for participation and school administration for fairly refereeing in a way that makes sense for the Mount Si community, and for holding fast in the face of one of the state’s nastiest anti-LGBT bigots to that point that he’s no longer a relevant part of the equation. That’s real progress, and it was made by Mount Si students and supportive parents, teachers and administration.
I am not finding fault Lurleenand I respect the progress made and standing fast in the face of the monster that is Ken Hutcherson.
The students ought not be obligated to break the silence, though and this should never have been made an excusable absence cause