Student teacher ousted for gay marriage comments [View All]

[The Straight Story]

Student teacher ousted for gay marriage comments
He told 4th-grader he would choose to marry a man if it were legal


PORTLAND, Ore. — A candid conversation between a student teacher and a fourth-grader about gay marriage led to his abrupt dismissal from the Beaverton School District.

Seth Stambaugh, a student teacher at Sexton Mountain elementary school, was apparently dismissed after answering a fourth-grader's question about his marital status by saying it would be illegal for him to marry because he would choose to marry a man.

The controversy has led to denials of anti-gay discrimination by the district, the student teacher scrambling to meet academic requirements, a lawyer weighing options for a lawsuit, and a graduate education program using the incident as a teachable moment.

Stambaugh is in the Master of Education program at Lewis and Clark College. At the start of the current school year, he and his colleagues all started student-teaching in area schools as part of the practicum portion of their education.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39584217/ns/local_news-portland_or/