Washington pastor says public school is 'going to pay' (OneNewsNow.com)

Washington pastor says public school is 'going to pay'

Jeff Johnson - OneNewsNow - 2/15/2008 8:00:00 AM

Displaying the same tenacity he demonstrated during his injury-shortened career in the NFL, Ken Hutcherson -- now a pro-family pastor in Kirkland, Washington -- is demanding that the pro-homosexual teachers who interrupted a school assembly at which he was speaking be fired.

In January, Pastor Hutcherson was invited to speak at his daughter's high school on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day to talk about his personal experience overcoming racism. When Hutcherson rose to speak, teacher George Potratz booed. And at the end of Hutcherson's presentation -- in which he did not mention his pro-family beliefs -- another teacher by the name of Kit McCormick interrupted the assembly to challenge Hutcherson's biblical opposition to homosexuality. According to published reports, both teachers received letters of reprimand for their disruptive behavior.

However, a letter of reprimand will not satisfy Hutcherson, who is asking that they be fired. The outspoken pastor also met with school officials over alleged harassment his daughter has suffered since the incident. "If it was a homosexual student, every one of you would be calling because you think that the gay community would sue you," Hutcherson says he told school administrators.

As previously reported, one of the teachers who booed Hutcherson sponsors the school's Gay Straight Alliance -- and also happens to teach his daughter's advanced placement British literature class. According to the pastor, his daughter has continued to suffer emotional stress in that classroom since the school assembly. But his requests to have the teacher removed from the class have been denied, forcing him to enroll his daughter, who is a senior, in an online class with the University of Washington.

"You can see the arrogance that's going on in our public school system with the agenda of making our schools just so open and available to what the homosexual agenda is all about," he remarks. "I'm absolutely amazed at the stubbornness that we've run into in our public education system, especially with teachers who think that nothing can happen to them." (hear more from this interview)

In addition, says the pastor and father, teachers at the school have approached his daughter -- and on at least one occasion, one of his daughter's friends -- in hopes of discouraging her from attending Gay Straight Alliance meetings in the aftermath of the assembly. They have reportedly advised that her presence causes members of the club to be "uncomfortable."

Hutcherson says the days of Christians just making a little noise and then going away are done. He shares that he told school officials "you are going to have to pay and pay dearly for your decisions in putting my daughter through the amount of stress that you have put her through in the last three weeks."

According to Hutcherson, if Christian teachers had interrupted a pro-homosexual speaker with whom they disagreed, those teachers would have at least been suspended, if not immediately fired. Teachers George Potratz and Kit McCormick say they are planning to appeal letters of reprimand they received for interrupting Hutcherson's presentation.