Wyoming, the Cowboy State

lavictoiredanslabrume:

Everyone thinks they know the story of the cross-country race. The fact is most of us don’t know it. I don’t. I doubt you do. All I know is that there was a race, and short of the finish, a Douglas runner elbowed a Cody runner. Coach Scott Shaffer apparently swore at someone. That’s everything I…

musingmisanthrope:

A high school football coach in Wyoming has resigned after orchestrating what may be the single-least appropriate motivational tactic in recent years, handing his players a “Hurt Feelings Report” in which students were asked to select from various offensive options to describe why they were…

dailychao:

A Wyoming high school football coach forces his players to fill out a “hurt feelings report” describing their feelings with homophobic and sexist language. He resigned, but this certainly is not good PR for middle America.

I mean, I’m mostly offended by his misspelling of easily and the missing hyphen in woman like, but you know whatever.

Don’t miss the actual survey online here

indeterminategrowth:

“Cliff and his steed took a mighty fall today.”
 
Cliff’s steed was his bike, custom made for a man of Cliff’s height. Cliff was a doctor from Little Rock, Arkansas and was also the oldest member on our ride across the United States. The ride from Hardin to Sheradin, accross the…

citymunkie:

Okay, so I really want to know what went through this coaches mind when he decided to pull a stunt like this.  Thankfully this coach was fired, but geez. Why on earth did he think this would some how improve moral on the team? How has shaming students into feeling bad about themselves ever really worked in the long run? 

I find it really sad and annoying that people feel the need to make these broad definitions of what makes a “real man”.  A “real man” shouldn’t feel the need to give this form out to high school students to make them feel guilty for complaining about being put down.

I’m also looking at you Hermain Cain, with that vegetable pizza nonsense.

equalityforallwyo:

Equality for All was shocked to see that Pat Lynch, former coach of Buffalo High School’s football team, was retained as a guidance counselor after distributing a survey to his players with anti-gay and misogynist language language. View the survey, “The Hurt Feelings Report,” here. This story has garnered national and international press, and we felt it necessary to respond.

Our letter has generated much comment and discussion at the Casper Star-Tribune’s website. A few comments:

LJGR said on: November 17, 2011, 3:58 pm
While I do not know whether this coach intended this flier as a joke or some sort of failed motivator for his football team, nor do I know the sexual orientation of any of the football players, I do think that as a teacher and guidance counselor he should have known better than to use such inflammatory language. When working with children a person should assume that at least some of their words will be taken seriously and that they could potentially cause harm to those who are subjected to them… I cannot say whether he should be disciplined - that is not my decision to make - however if his tactics for acting as a guidance counselor are the same as those he uses for coaching I question whether he is the best person for the job.

carlito_uno said on: November 17, 2011, 5:58 am
and the wussification of america continues. 

bane of trout said on: November 14, 2011, 5:02 pm
Wow. So much to respond to here… These terms constitute a “hostile work environment” which is “frowned upon” by normal people (not to mention the EEOC), and will lead to “lawsuits the size of Texas.” Secondly and more to the point, the offensiveness of these terms is beyond the pale, and I can laugh at political correctness as much as the next guy.

If my kid were in BHS, I’d demand a review of institutional practices. Given the Board and superintendent’s stupid reaction, I’d want proof that this kind of thing isn’t systemic. And I sure as shootin’ wouldn’t have my kid see Lynch for her guidance counseling needs. Maybe some coaches use names to motivate players; I’ve seen plenty of good ones who don’t. But this isn’t about football. This is about district employees being agents of bullying. Repugnant. Utterly repugnant.

The Wyoming chapter of the ACLU also responded. Jennifer Horvath, ACLU staff attorney, writes:

“The material Lynch distributed was disparaging to LGBT and female students. It’s hard to imagine how any of these students — half of the student body — would feel comfortable going to Lynch for guidance, whether he is under ‘administrative supervision’ or not.

We encourage students at Buffalo High School to show that Lynch’s intolerance is not shared by students or the community, and demonstrate their support for LGBT students by establishing a student Gay-Straight Alliance.

Pat Lynch still remains as a guidance counselor at Buffalo High School. If you’d like to express your outrage, contact the district superintendent, Dr. Rod Kessler, at rkessler@jcsd1.us. Encourage him to abide by Johnson County School District #1’s policy regarding harassment, which states: “It is the intent of Johnson County School District One to maintain a learning environment that is free from discrimination, including sexual harassment.”

There are also two petitions circulating calling for Lynch’s full resignation. They can be found here and here.

We’re encouraged by the discussion our letter, Ms. Horvath’s letter, and the comments online have generated. Since its publication Sunday, our letter has remained the most commented item on the Star-Tribune’s website. It is wonderful to see an ongoing thread dealing with what kind of state to we want to be - one that condones bullying of students by administrators, or one that shrugs and says “Toughen up!” to the possible detriment of some students.

bowtiewearingowl:

We were attempting to drive from SLC to Green River tried to drive passed Evanston but the snow got so bad that we couldn’t see in front of the car, semis were whizzing past us, and when we finally pulled off at an exit we didn’t any cars on the highway for a full five minutes. That’s when we…