Arkansas High School refuses to include gay profile in yearbook

Taylor Ellis, a high school student in Sheridan, Ark., says administrators refuse to include an interview/profile in the school's yearbook because of his sexual orientation.

The Yellowjacket, Sheridan High School’s yearbook, wrote six profiles of students to run in the yearbook. One of the short features chronicled Ellis’s coming-out story.

Ellis said he wants to get his story out there and he doesn’t understand the problem with printing it. Ellis said Principal Rodney Williams called him a few weeks ago, citing concerns that the story was too personal and that it put Ellis at risk of being bullied.

Now the Human Rights Campaign has addressed the matter. In a letter to the Sheridan School District, HRC President Chad Griffin addressed the issue at hand:

“If not resolved immediately, this act of discriminatory censorship will send a dangerous message to all lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students in Sheridan, across Arkansas and around the nation -- that they are second-class citizens and their lives are not equally valid. Instead of respecting the wishes of Taylor's fellow students to recognize him in their yearbook, you have told him and other students who may already feel marginalized that they are not an equally valued part of the Sheridan high school student body.

“As an Arkansas native and a former elementary school student in Sheridan, I was taught the Golden Rule – about treating others as we would like to be treated. Whatever you may say about your intentions, it does not change the fact that you have failed to uphold these values that all fair-minded Arkansans share. Addressing bullying requires stopping bullies, not muzzling harmless free expression.”

Sheridan School District Superintendent Brenda Haynes responded in a statement to the Arkansas News:

“We must make decisions that lead in the proper direction for all of our students and for our community. We must not make decisions based on demands by any special interest group. The seven profiles will not be published in the yearbook...It is clear that the adults who have the responsibility for the operation of the district have the obligation to make decisions which are consistent with the mission of our school. We have done so."

Watch the news report from CBS News below:



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