Michigan teacher refuses to let teen write about her gay moms for assignment

A high school teacher in Michigan asked students to write about an issue near and dear to their hearts — then told a student she couldn’t write about her two mothers and same-sex marriage, because it might offend someone, according to a report.

Destiny McDermitt, a junior at Hill-McCloy High School in Montrose, wanted to write about the 2015 marriage of her mothers, Angela McDermitt-Jackson and Chris Jackson, but was told earlier this month that the topic wasn’t appropriate for the “Take a Stand Speech” assignment, the teen told MLive.com.

“For every generation in every country, every day, there are issues upon which an individual can take a stand,” the assignment read. “This assignment asks you to think about what concerns you in your community, your state, your country or the world.”

Students were also tasked to write about an issue they felt strongly about and to “take a stand for or against it,” according to the report.

But the teacher, who was not identified by Montrose Community Schools, told Destiny the topic was off limits, prompting the 17-year-old junior to ask the educator if she could check with her classmates on whether same-sex marriage offended them, according to MLive.com.

That request was also denied, prompting Destiny to write a letter to district administrators. She was later transferred to a different class, according to the report.

“[It] offended me because I have two moms [who] are married and I really thought it was inappropriate,” the teen wrote in her complaint.

A message seeking comment from district officials was not immediately returned Monday, but Montrose Community Schools Superintendent Linden Moore said Destiny’s idea was not the only rejected topic for the Feb. 7 assignment.

The teacher also refused to let another student write about animal cruelty for the assignment. The unidentified educator needs to be clearer with the assignment moving forward, Moore said.

“The teacher was thinking smaller and the kids were thinking bigger,” he told MLive.com.

Several students wrote letters in support of Destiny. Her stepmother, Jackson, who is a bus driver for the school district, said she was also upset that her proposed topic was denied.

The couple got married in Illinois months before the US Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage nationwide, they told MLive.com.

“We’re grown adults,” McDermitt-Jackson said. “These are our children. We went through issues when we decided to be together, but these are our children. They don’t need to be subjected to it.”

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