“And?”
“We’re waiting for the board to decide whether the next step is simple loss prevention or liquidation.”
Dr. Hennigan stopped in the hall and turned to Ms. Wilson. “No one needs to involve the board. Liquidation is in order.”
“I’ll put out the kill order immediately.”
Chapter Six
Blayne
The students in the cavernous room pretended to be attentive, but Blayne could tell some were practically asleep. Those listening were curious about the content or were furious they were required to sit through a presentation about combating homonegativity and gender-based discrimination in their high school assembly.
Blayne clicked the remote control, and the PowerPoint presentation went to the next slide. Blayne watched as his co-presenter and close friend, Kira Strickland, read the slide.
“In 1977, Dr. Martin Rochlin created a list of questions for heterosexuals. The list obviously is a play on the many questions LGBTQIA2+—lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, queer, intersexed, asexual, two-spirit and others—individuals are asked regularly.” Kira read several items off the list. “When and how did you first decide you were a heterosexual? Why do heterosexuals place so much emphasis on sex? Your heterosexuality doesn’t offend me as long as you don’t try to force it on me. Why do you people feel compelled to seduce others into your sexual orientation? Heterosexuals are noted for assigning themselves and each other to narrowly restricted, stereotyped sex roles. Why do you cling to such unhealthy role-playing?”
Blayne watched as a few students chuckled at the questions. A student raised his hand toward the back of the room, so Blayne called on him, “You, in the back of the room with your hand up.” The kid had a cocky smirk Blayne knew all too well.
“Isn’t this some kind of leftist propaganda? I mean, homosexuality isn’t natural, so why are we being forced to listen to this crap?”
Blayne took a deep breath before starting. “Define ‘natural’. If, by natural, do you mean ‘does homosexuality exist in nature?’ Then the answer to your question is a resounding yes. Scientists have documented homosexuality in all kinds of species, including reptiles, insects, birds, fish, etc. If you want to focus on mammals, homosexuality definitely exists in nature. Scientists have documented homosexuality in over two-hundred-twenty-five mammals, including bears, cats, cows, dogs, elephants, kangaroos, lions, monkeys and many, many others. Oh, and of course, humans.”
“That’s leftist propaganda,” the student replied.
“If by leftist propaganda, you mean science, then sure,” Blayne smirked. He watched the student grit his teeth, but the kid said nothing else.
“As I was saying,” Kira started, “LGBTQIA2+ individuals are often asked some pretty intrusive and ludicrous questions about their sexuality or gender identity. Sometimes people don’t realize how intrusive or embarrassing the questions are.”
“For example,” Blayne said. “Many LGBTQIA2+ individuals are asked about specific sex acts by complete strangers they would never ask a heterosexual person. These questions can be embarrassing. If you wouldn’t want someone to ask you that question, then the best rule of thumb is to not ask it of someone else.”
Blayne clicked to the next slide and listened as Kira continued her discussion. The students periodically asked questions, but mostly the presentation went pretty seamlessly.
When it ended, the school principal thanked them for coming. The students gave a polite round of applause right as the end-of-the-day school bell rang.
“I really want to thank you both for doing this,” the principal said after the students had cleared the auditorium. “We’ve been having some incidences of bullying, so we thought this would be a good way to put a stop to it.”
“What policies do you have in place to prevent bullying?” Kira asked. “As you know, David’s Law has some pretty strict requirements for handling it.”
“True,” the principal said, his face dulling to a blank expression. “But as you know, David’s Law doesn’t protect any specific classes of students.”
Blayne watched as Kira’s eyes narrowed. By watching her facial expression, he could tell that Kira was trying to avoid exploding on the principal.
“As you know, schools that do not have adequate protection under David’s Law could find themselves easy targets for lawsuits. As a lawyer, I’ve already mediated a handful of bullying cases in the Houston area. The last thing you want is to be on the receiving end of one of those. Not only could it be seriously detrimental for the school and the school district, but it could also prove very costly.”
“How so?” the principal asked.
“Take the older case,Mitchell v. Georgetown Independent School District. Here, a gay student was spit on, knocked unconscious. A bully even threw his books in the trash. He was called derogatory names daily. The final straw was when bullies broke his fingers. Although the exact final settlement amount with the school district was undisclosed, legal circles say it was pretty large. And that was back in two-thousand-ten before David’s Law went into effect in 2017. The penalties for these types of cases today would be much higher.”
“Well,” the principal said, “that’s why trainings like this one are so important.”
“True,” Blayne noted. “But training only gets you part of the way there. The training won’t get you very far if you don’t have adequate policies and mechanisms to help bullied victims. Ultimately, all students, faculty and staff must be held accountable for bullying. As soon as you let one case slip through the cracks, you open the floodgates for more.”
The principal shook his head before walking away. Blayne shot Kira a side-eye but said nothing. Blayne turned off his laptop and disconnected it from the school’s audiovisual system.
“Well,” Kira said, “that was fun.” The sarcasm practically dripped from her mouth.
“It wasn’t that bad,” Blayne countered. “We could definitely have met up with a lot more resistance. All things considered, I thought it went well.”
