A high school principal showcased some of the worst institutional homophobia in years after damning a girl for being a lesbian, ordering her to stay away from children and outing her to her parents. All after the teenage girl told him that students were making fun of her for her sexuality.



After the unnamed student went through all that, the principal then suspended many of her friends for wearing gay pride buttons and t-shirts in support of the student and gay rights. He argued that they distracted the students by making them think about gay sex.


Principal David Davis of Ponce de Leon High School was later demoted and his decision to ban pride shirts was overturned, but Davis still enjoys great support from the community for his homophobic behaviour.

Holmes County school superintendent Steve Griffin said: "We are a small, rural district in the Bible Belt with strong Christian beliefs and feel like homosexuality is wrong. I don't think we are that different from a lot of districts, at least in the [Florida] Panhandle, that have beliefs that maybe are different from societal changes.” 

Davis garnered attention when the media picked up on the t-shirt story after US Judge Richard Smoak ruled students had the right to wear gay pride shirts at school.  Smoak said: "Davis embarked on what can only be characterized as a 'witch hunt' to identify students who were homosexual and their supporters, further adding fuel to the fire.
He added, shocking some, that: “He went so far as to lift the shirts of female students to insure the letters 'GP' or the words 'Gay Pride' were not written on their bodies."

However, the judge recognized that homophobia was the common belief throughout the school district. In a recently released legal opinion Smoak said: "I emphasize that Davis's personal and religious views about homosexuality are not issues in this case. Indeed, Davis's opinions and views are consistent with the beliefs of many in Holmes County, in Florida, and in the country. Where Davis went wrong was when he endeavored to silence the opinions of his dissenters."

73-year-old Bill Griffin thinks Davis made the right choice. "David Davis is a fine man and good principal, and we are a gentle, peaceful, Christian, family-oriented community. We aren't out to tar and feather anyone."

Others, including school board member Gary Scott, were shocked by the judge’s rebuke.  He said: "I guess I didn't realize we were this bad."

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