Shawano, WI – Today the American College of Pediatricians sent a letter to the Shawano School District Superintendent, Todd Carlson, cautioning him to not react adversely to 15-year-old student Brandon Wegner based on political pressure. Superintendent Carlson called Brandon ignorant for his views on homosexual adoption presented in an op-ed, point-counter-point article for a student-run newspaper. Brandon, the author of the censored article, was punished and bullied for expressing his support of natural, mother-father adoption. The American College for Pediatricians sent a letter to the superintendent, advising him to “consider all the evidence.” It also included three articles concerning homosexual adoption and bullying.
In the letter, Den A. Trumbell, MD, President of the American College of Pediatricians, wrote:
The topic of same-sex adoption is not as decided as some professionals would have the public believe. There is no clear evidence that children reared in same-sex-led households fare as well as those reared by their biological heterosexual parents. In fact, there is evidence of relative risk to the child within this non biological setting. It appears that this is the point that this student was trying to make.
You were quoted as saying that you were “taking steps to prevent items of this nature from happening in the future.” In crafting your policies, I hope you and your staff would consider all the evidence and not simply pen policy influenced by social or political pressures.
Mathew Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel, said “The actions by the school principal and superintendent are appalling. The school district board members should be ashamed at the way this matter was handled by school officials. The two students who wrote point-counter-point op-eds engaged in a civic dialogue about homosexual adoption. The superintendent then set a bad example by punishing one viewpoint and using his position to bully a 15-year-old student. That is wrong and must be corrected. The letter from the American College of Pediatricians underscores the bad judgment exercised by the superintendent.”
