Sex and education

last updated 8 January 2015

Salt Lake City

A group of parents and students last week lost a legal fight to get a Utah high school teacher fired because she’s a lesbian. Psychology teacher Wendy Weaver disclosed her sexuality to curious students at Spanish Fork High School in 1997. A group of parents declared Weaver, who now uses her maiden name, Chandler, unfit to teach. The parents demanded that she be fired. “They’re scared to have their kids see someone who is gay but who functions and is happy,” Chandler said. The Utah Supreme Court ruled that the decision should be up to education officials. Chandler’s opponents said state officials should get rid of her under a state law requiring teachers to be moral models for their students.