Idaho’s Teacher Of The Year Driven Out Due To LGBTQIA+ Views

What an honor it must be. You dedicated your life to helping others by teaching young people, and you're bestowed with Idaho's Teacher Of The Year award!

But your celebration is cut short as you're driven out of the state you love because of attacks from parents and internet commenters. This is a thing that's happening in America in 2023, and it feels really wrong.

What you're imagining happened after reading that is precisely what happened. Karen Lauritzen, Idaho's Teacher Of The Year for 2022, has revealed she's no longer a teacher in the state of Idaho after being attacked for her pro-LGBTQIA+ views. It should be noted that those views were not included in the curiculum.

Lauritzen had this to say regarding the nasty comments she's received:

I should have felt celebrated and should have felt like this is a great year, and honestly it was one of the toughest years I have ever had teaching, not only with my community but with parents questioning every decision I made as well.

What's your take here? Should a teacher be removed from the classroom because of personal views, even if said personal views don't permeate the classroom? Let's connect and get your feedback, because this isn't a simple question, nor will there be a simple answer.

In other news in the LGBTQIA+ community, did you get the scoop on Big Freedia at Boise Pride? If not, you're missing out on a lot. Luckily, we're here to get you all caught up.