Letters To The Editor
Kempling had been employed as a teacher and counsellor by the Quesnel School District at a high school in Quesnel, British Columbia since 1990. In 1997 he began to write a series of letters to the editor of a local newspaper, the Quesnel Cariboo Observer, disagreeing with the way that homosexuality was being presented in the curriculum. With regard to homosexuality, he claimed:
- "I refuse to be a false teacher saying that promiscuity is acceptable, perversion is normal, and immorality is simply 'cultural diversity' of which we should be proud."
Among other things, Kempling objected that the British Columbia Teachers' Federation, the union that represents teachers in British Columbia, was distributing literature produced by the Gay and Lesbian Educators of BC which in his view was erroneous. He also cited various studies that he interprets as showing harm caused by what he described as the "homosexual lifestyle". Kempling, an advocate of conversion therapy, wrote:
- "Sexual orientations can be changed and the success rate for those who seek help is high. My hope is students who are confused over their sexual orientation will come to see me. It could save their life."
The American Psychological Association finds insufficient evidence supporting the idea that sexual orientation can be changed and notes that conversion therapy can be harmful, while the American Psychiatric Association questions the scientific validity of the theories behind conversion therapy, notes reports of harm, and actively recommends against it.
For these letters, Kempling was cited in May 2001 for professional misconduct by the British Columbia College of Teachers (BCCT), the body which regulates the teaching profession in British Columbia. This led to a hearing in May 2002 before the BCCT Disciplinary Committee, which ruled that Kempling’s statements created an environment that was hostile and discriminatory to gay and lesbian students and suspended him for one month.
Read more about this topic: Chris Kempling, 2002 Suspension
Famous quotes containing the words letters and/or editor:
“If you are one of the hewers of wood and drawers of small weekly paychecks, your letters will have to contain some few items of news or they will be accounted dry stuff.... But if you happen to be of a literary turn of mind, or are, in any way, likely to become famous, you may settle down to an afternoon of letter-writing on nothing more sprightly in the way of news than the shifting of the wind from south to south-east.”
—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)
“As for the herd of newspapers and magazines, I do not chance to know an editor in the country who will deliberately print anything which he knows will ultimately and permanently reduce the number of his subscribers. They do not believe that it would be expedient. How then can they print truth?”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)