Such comments at a high school journalism conference “wouldn’t have been appropriate coming from a heterosexual either,” Tuttle said.
He added that while Savage has a right to express his views, he did so in a “very unprofessional, condescending way,” in a venue that was similar to a school environment.
At one point, he noted, Savage said his “It Gets Better” project, which has been supported by President Barack Obama and other leaders throughout the country, gives “the middle finger” to parents and educators who did not want him speaking to gay teens.
However the talk turned from inappropriate to “hostile” when Savage “singled out one religion and began tearing down its sacred text,” explained Tuttle.
He said that Savage had clearly “veered off the topic” when he started “squarely attacking the Bible – and by extension those who find it sacred.”
When three of his students politely asked to leave, he agreed.
“As an educator I take very seriously my responsibility to protect all students from bullying for any reason,” he said, adding that this was the initial reason that he had wanted to bring his students to the talk.
He explained that his fellow teacher chaperone escorted the three students out of the room, where they joined the other students and advisors who had left. He remained with the three other students, whom he believes also wanted to leave but felt intimidated by the crowd of 2,800, many of whom were cheering as Savage spoke.
Tuttle described his students as “pretty well shell-shocked” after the speech.
In discussions after the event, he and his students agreed that Savage could have spoken against bullying “in a more professional, appropriate way,” without attacking religion and using bullying tactics himself.
“Unfortunately, that’s not the direction the speech went,” he said.
(Story continues below)
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Corrected at 9:30 a.m. MST on May 7, 2012: article incorrectly described the national high school journalism conference as taking place at Elmhurst College, Illinois. The April 13 event took place in Seattle, Washington.
Michelle La Rosa is deputy editor-in-chief of Catholic News Agency. She has worked for CNA since 2011. She studied political philosophy and journalism at the University of Dallas.