An eighth grade female student at Ashburn Community Elementary School in Chicago and her grandparents Kenneth and LaVerne Richardson are suing the Chicago Board of Education afer a substitute teacher screened Brokeback Mountain for the class.
According to the Chicago Sun-Times “12-year-old Jessica Turner claims to have suffered psychological distress after seeing the R-rated film, in which two rugged Western men conceal a homosexual affair.”
The Associated Press reports: “The substitute asked a student to shut the classroom door at the West Side school, saying: ‘What happens in Ms. Buford’s class stays in Ms. Buford’s class,’ according to the lawsuit. Richardson said his granddaughter was traumatized by the movie and had to undergo psychological treatment and counseling.”
Said Kenneth Richardson: “It is very important to me that my children not be exposed to this. The teacher knew she was not supposed to do this.”
Richardson had previously complained to school administrators about curse words in reading material that went against the family’s faith. The plaintiffs seek more than $400,000 in damages.
