A 10th grade teacher reportedly told his students that identifying as "straight" is considered offensive to people who might not identify the same way.
Seattle Public Schools teacher Ian Golash of Chief Sealth International High School teaches Ethnic Studies World History and allegedly told a male student that the term "straight" was offensive when the student filled out a "social identity wheel" in class, according to 770 KTTH.
The worksheet asks students to describe their various identities, including racial, ethnic, gender, socioeconomic status, physical, emotional, developmental disabilities, and sexual orientation. The activity is designed to tell students if they benefit from unearned privilege or are victims of oppression.
When a parent's 15-year-old son called himself "straight" on the worksheet, Golash allegedly said that "straight" is an offensive term "because it implies that to not be straight is to be 'crooked,' which could have a negative connotation."
The student's mother shared an email thread of her exchanges with Golash with 770 KTTH's "Jason Rantz Show."
"When filling out a Social Identity Wheel,' he was told that if he identifies as straight that he needed to pick a term that was less offensive," the mother, who requested anonymity, wrote to principal Ray Garcia Morales on Sept. 24, 2023. "It is completely inappropriate to dictate what terms a student can and cannot use to identify themselves with."
Golash reportedly said he did not target the woman's son with the comment, but did admit to saying something similar to the entire class.
"Because I think language has power and that it shapes the culture that we live in, I did say to the class, in response to a student, that I do not use the term 'straight' because it implies that to not be straight is to be 'crooked' which could have a negative connotation," he wrote in an email response to the mother.
The mother also claimed that Golash shamed her son by calling him a "product of the patriarchy that teaches young boys not to care."
Again, Golash responded that his comment was not aimed at any student in particular but at the whole class.
"My response about patriarchy was not directed at one student, it was connected to discussions of systems of power that we had been having in the previous few days and the behavior of several boys in the class."
This isn't the first time Golash and this particular student have clashed, however. The same parent previously complained that Golash failed her son on a quiz for saying that men cannot get pregnant and that women do not have penises. The mother eventually pulled her son out of Golash's class.
Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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