Teachers boo pro-family pastor at MLK Day school assemblyJeff Johnson -
OneNewsNow.com 2/4/2008 11:30:00 AM
A pastor known for overcoming racial discrimination to become an NFL star and pro-family advocate was booed during a recent Martin Luther King Day presentation.
You may know Ken Hutcherson's name from his pro football days or, more recently, his pro-family activism in defense of traditional marriage. But Hutcherson's daughter was introducing her father at her high school to talk about how he overcame racism thanks to the work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
"And then she says, 'But the most important thing is, this is my Dad.' I stood up to walk up to the microphone and there were some boos. They started booing."
Hutcherson, senior pastor of Antioch Bible Church in Kirkland, Washington, ignored the hecklers and gave his presentation, which never mentioned homosexuality. But the homosexual activists who booed Hutcherson were not finished. After his speech, they challenged him directly in front of the entire assembly.
"The sponsor of the Gay Straight Alliance stood up and yelled out, 'I know that I am not on the program, but why is this man here when he doesn’t believe in equal rights for everybody?'" says Hutcherson.
The woman accusing Hutcherson was Kit McCormick, his daughter's favorite teacher. "And I felt like I couldn't sit and not say anything," says the teacher. "I felt like this was a moment that I had to stand up and say something."
McCormick told KING-TV that Hutcherson was misrepresenting himself. "He is not about equality for everyone," she asserts. "He's about equality for some people."
Hutcherson says the teachers' behavior was inappropriate and would never have been tolerated if they had been pro-family activists criticizing a pro-homosexual speaker.
"They would not only not have a job, they would never have another opportunity to teach -- and that's what makes it so bad," says the pastor. "And that's why I told the school board that I am waiting to see what you do with those teachers and what you do with those teachers is going to dictate what I am going to do with the school."
School officials have issued an apology and are investigating the incident. Hutcherson says he is waiting to see if the school disciplines the teachers before deciding what, if any action to take. "They broke every rule for assemblies and respect of guests," he says. "What is right is right, and I went in and kept the rules of what I was supposed to do -- [but] the teachers didn't. Now it's time for them to ... discipline the teachers."
Pastor Hutcherson believes the incident was a set-up. "They knew I was coming. They could have said something to the students. They could have said something to the administration. They could have said something to me," he argues. "But they waited to do it in front of the students to get out of order, [to] be inappropriate, to boo."
According to Hutcherson, students told him afterwards that if they had booed at a basketball game, they would have been kicked out of the gym -- and that they would have been expelled if they had acted out of order during an assembly. Those students are wondering why the teachers are being treated differently for their actions, he says.
