“Massachusetts middle schoolers tore down Pride decorations and chanted that their pronouns were ‘USA’ in a striking protest after they were asked to wear rainbow colors to school.
Students at Marshall Simonds Middle School in Burlington, Massachusetts, were asked to wear rainbow-colored shirts to celebrate Pride Month on June 2, but a preplanned protest broke out with students tearing up Pride flag stickers and chanting: ‘USA are my pronouns.’
Decked out in red, white and blue, the students destroyed the decorations lining the hallway the student organization Spectrum Group distributed, including a quote from American playwright Tennessee Williams, signage saying the school was a ‘safe space’ and ‘equality for everyone’ decorations.
‘I was shocked and horrified,’ Nila Almstrom, a parent of an LGBT student, said at a town hall meeting about the protest.
Parents have told local news outlets their straight-identifying students said they felt forced to participate and were ‘offended’ by the Tennessee Williams quote that reiterated that the human heart is ‘curved like a road through the mountains’ and only lines and streets can be straight. “