OK Teacher Fired for Laramie Project Project

Via PageOneQ:

Debra Taylor, 50, a teacher at Granfield High School was fired after showing her students the 2002 film The Laramie Project based on the murder of Matthew Shepard. 

According to an article in USA Today, it sounds like Taylor did everything right: she got permission from her principal before watching the movie and halted the project when her principal told her to do so. Taylor was fired after she and her students held a mock funeral for a canceled in-class project in which they filmed their own versions of scenes from the play. 

The next day, Taylor says, Superintendent Ed Turlington canceled the class. After she complained to a school board member, Turlington put her on paid leave and recommended that she be fired. The school board approved her resignation Friday.

Taylor says she was let go for complaining to the board member, but others say it was a result of the play's subject: homophobia. "They don't want something like this addressed in our community," says senior Matt Ebner, one of Taylor's former students.

[snip]

John Moyer, an attorney representing the district, says Taylor was dismissed not because she wanted to put on a play or because of the subject matter. "If someone is saying that adverse employment action is being taken against Ms. Taylor because of homosexuality, they're wrong."

Representatives of the school district, however, weren't quoted on exactly why she was fired. Their silence speaks volumes.