Michelle Rhee’s group finally drops anti-gay honoree
An 11-year-old's petition pushed StudentsFirst to denounce "Don't Say Gay" bill sponsor Tenn. state Rep. John Ragan VIDEO
After more than a month of mounting pressure from gay rights and education groups, it was an appeal from an 11-year-old activist that finally got Michelle Rhee’s education nonprofit StudentsFirst to drop Tennessee state Rep. John Ragan and rescind his “Reformer of the Year” designation.
As Salon previously reported, Ragan was the sponsor of Tennessee’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill, a measure that would have banned teachers from discussing sexuality that is not “related to natural human reproduction” in the classroom and would have forced educators and school therapists to “out” students they suspected of being gay to parents or guardians.
StudentsFirst selected Ragan as its 2012 “Reformer of the Year” despite his notorious legislative track record, and stood by him in the face of criticism from education and gay rights advocates once the honor became public. But the group seems to have changed its position thanks to a petition from 11-year-old activist Marcel Neergaard, who shared his own experience of growing up as a gay kid to show Rhee and StudentsFirst why bills like Ragan’s hurt students like him.
StudentsFirst announced it was rescinding Ragan’s honor, and endorsing anti-bullying legislation