High School students' mural
(Redirected from Texas, teacher fired for defending student artwork)
Date: 2001
Region: North America
Subject: Sexual/Gender Orientation
Medium: Painting
Artist: Students at Katherine Anne Porter Charter School, Grady Roper
Confronting Bodies: School officials
Date of Action: June 2001
Location: Wimberly, Texas, USA
Description of Artwork: Roper's students were given permission to paint a 30-by-30 foot mural in one of the school's hallways. The part in question was a 2-by-2 foot section featuring two men kissing.
The Incident: Roper was fired for defending his student's work after it was painted over by order of the school board without consulting Roper or his class and while all eighteen faculty members supported the mural. The school said that he was fired for not being a "team player." The Texas Civil Rights Project suggested that the image of the two men was not "erotic or provocative."
Results of Incident: Roper's attorney is seeking to regain his job, lost wages, attorney fees and a court order prohibiting First Amendment violations on campus. Porter School students were outraged at the school's decision. One student painted the First Amendment on a piece of plywood and left it in the school hallway in protest.
Source: www.splc.org
