This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
A video taken by an eighth-grade student shows a fake lesbian "wedding" between two female students taking place in a classroom, with the participation of teachers, at Brunswick Middle School, near Cleveland, Ohio.
One of the teachers who participated in the ceremony reportedly is the mother of one of the girls, also eighth-graders, according to Adam Ziegler, a concerned parent who acquired the 40-second video footage from another parent with a student in the class.
The lesbian-identified girls sealed their fake "marriage" with ring pops, Ziegler told WND. He led the way in alerting other parents and the community to the scandal.
The video surfaced as a tip given to Protect Ohio Children, a statewide pro-family coalition that fights leftist social agendas in Ohio schools. Brunswick, in Medina County, is 20 miles southwest of Cleveland. The group received the student video on April 10 and published it on April 14 (see video).
Here is the video description by Protect Ohio Children:
"This recording was taken by an eighth-grade student at Brunswick Middle School, in which a mock lesbian wedding was acted out in the eighth grade Pride time on March 22, 2023. Pride time is done on Fridays and is used for the SEL lessons and teaching (SEL = Social Emotional Learning).
"During this Pride time event, the mother of an eighth-grade female student who identifies as a lesbian, walked her daughter, whom I shall call "Bride 1", to be given away in marriage to Bride #2. In the video, Bride #1 is holding a bouquet and is wearing an all-white outfit, reminiscent of a tennis outfit. Just before Bride #1 being "walked down the aisle," a male teacher is strewing rose petals along the path. The mother of Bride #1 is a school employee at the middle school. In addition to the male teacher, there were another three or four teachers in this classroom. There will be a school board meeting on Tuesday, April 18th, in the theater of the high school."
In the video, the classic wedding song, "Here Comes the Bride" (Bridal Chorus, by Wagner) can be heard playing faintly in the background, perhaps played on a student's phone, as the girl in white is led, allegedly by her mother, to her faux lesbian "wife."
The Brunswick Middle School female teacher who "gave away" and escorted the female student at the mock homosexual "wedding" ceremony in the video is alleged to be Cheryl Porter, an eighth-grade science teacher, said Ziegler. He and a few other concerned parents were informed about the event by students in the classroom.
The man in the video who tosses petals on the floor, like a flower girl at a real wedding, is alleged to be Chad Thompson, an eighth-grade math teacher at Brunswick Middle, according to Ziegler and his parental allies, again relying on students who were in the classroom.
The parent's group told WND there were at least two other Brunswick MS teachers present at the "ceremony," effectively celebrating it along with many of the students.
Superintendent: Students intended as 'light-hearted fun
As word spread of the students' mock-homosexual "wedding," complaints began to come in to the school. Ziegler said after he called into to conservative Cleveland talk-radio host Bob Frantz of WHK Radio, and then informed Brunswick School Board member Glenn Gilley about the incident. Gilley told the school's superintendent, Jason Niedermeyer, of the incident, and the next day Niedermeyer called Ziegler and told him he had no prior knowledge of the lesbian pretend ceremony.
Despite Protect Ohio Children publishing the video on YouTube on April 14, the district still remained publicly silent about it. But as parents' outrage spread and a school-board meeting scheduled for April 18 approached, Niedermeyer finally released a public statement on April 17 to parents and Brunswick school staff alike. He said the student same-sex "pretend wedding does not meet our expectations for how we should be using instructional time within our schools."
But what caught the attention of mobilizing parents and critics was Niedermeyer's statement that "After reviewing the circumstances, we learned that the activity – requested by students – was intended as a fun and lighthearted activity leading into spring break." The following is the superintendent's email letter, with emphasis added:
From: Jason Niedermeyer
Date: Mon, Apr 17, 2023, at 2:35 PM
Subject: A Message from Superintendent Niedermeyer
To: Brunswick City School District RecipientsGreetings-
In the Brunswick City School District, we believe in ensuring the success of every student through a rigorous curriculum, relevant experiences, and meaningful relationships while fostering our student's love of learning.
Brunswick City School District administration has recently learned of a video circulating on social media representing a pretend wedding between two female students in a middle school classroom during a period scheduled for intervention and enrichment. After reviewing the circumstances, we learned that the activity – requested by students – was intended as a fun and lighthearted activity leading into spring break.
Although intended as an activity to bring the students together, a pretend wedding does not meet our expectations for how we should be using instructional time within our schools. I will continue to work with the Middle School administration and staff to ensure that we are clear about the ways to appropriately support and engage our students while providing instructional activities that meet our established learning objectives.
The time our students spend in the classroom is important, and we have high academic expectations for our students and staff. We remain committed to providing an excellent learning environment where students feel welcome, safe, and supported.
Sincerely,
Jason A. Niedermeyer
Superintendent
'Feckless behavior'
Gail Larrow, founder of Brunswick Citizens for Academic Integrity, a conservative school-watchdog group, told WND that Niedermeyer's "response to this mockery was not strong enough."
Niedermeyer's "definition of 'fun and lighthearted' is certainly different than mine," Larrow said in an interview. "Do these teachers need to go back to remedial teacher training? It would appear so! I am appalled at such reckless behavior."
She said Brunswick City School District "should be modeling the very highest level of integrity and professionalism to our students," and called the scandal "an embarrassment and discredit to this district and to all of the very fine teachers out there who do a great job."
Gilley, the school-board member, who leans conservative, seemed to agree with Larrow's assessment and vowed to press for accountability for all the teachers who enabled the "lesbian wedding" student celebration.
Gilley, who in addition to sitting on the school board as missions pastor at the local Grace Baptist Church, told WND that allowing the homosexual spectacle was a "stupid decision" that strayed far afield of the true purpose of education.
He said the original explanation he was given by Niedermeyer that it was a "spontaneous" event that was "student-driven" didn't jibe with the adults' enthusiastic participation in the classroom, with zero respect for students who might not support homosexual "marriage."
"They did this to propagandize those kids," he said. "Teachers need to do their job. If you're a math teacher, teach math. If you're an English teacher, teach English. And keep your nose out of everything else."
Gilley said the irony is that the socially left bias in city schools is so great that if a student in the class would have objected to the lesbian "marriage," "he would have been dragged off to the principal's office."
Middle schools: LGBT propaganda zones
Linda Harvey, founder and president of Mission America, a Christian educational watchdog group, told WND in reaction to Niedermeyer's tepid and partial disavowal of the teacher-encouraged mock homosexual "wedding": "What a pathetic excuse. This is truly a desperate attempt to spin this disaster in a way that makes it go away quickly."
Harvey, who has been fighting pro-LGBT indoctrination in schools for more than three decades, said in the last few years, middle school "seems to be a favorite age for heightened ‘gay’ activism directed toward children."
"It’s in middle school where the obscene pro-LGBTQ library books start to show up. Most middle schools now have clubs for homosexual and gender-confused students," or "GSAs," she said, which once stood for "gay-straight alliances," but now, with the transgender craze, have been redefined as "genders and sexualities alliances."
Harvey added that many schools "will observe concocted ‘gay’ events" like "Coming Out’ Day," the “Transgender Day of Remembrance," and the "Day of Silence," with no consideration for students from traditional families.
Harvey said "Middle schooling is a time when adolescents are very vulnerable because of rapidly changing biology and raging hormones, and so they can be swayed very easily. This is why some of the most aggressive pro-LGBTQ teachers and administrators are found in U.S. middle schools.”
Larrow told WND that Brunswick High School, the next stop for most of the middle schoolers, is "heavily committed to LGBTQ propaganda, with photos coming from sources inside the school showing various LGBT-activist flags, such as the trans pride and "Progress Pride" flags.
Larrow cited as an example of Brunswick schools' one-sided pro-LGBT policies, last year's school-board decision to allow gender-confused students to dress in school according to whatever attire matches their preferred "gender identity," without parents being informed.
