Yes Dear, It Is Happening Right Here!

There will be “Hell to Pay!” for being “Woke” when you cross a far right-wing conservative.

OP-ED | Can We Talk About Guilford?

CT News Junkie

By Susan Campbell

July 17, 2023

A former Guilford police officer – William Maisano – was arrested last week after he sent an email to Guilford’s high school principal saying there would be “hell to pay” if a Guilford teacher –  who is also president of the union and advisor to the school’s Gender and Sexualities Alliance – attended the school’s graduation with her hair dyed in Pride colors.

Maisano also mentioned “sexual preference,” a phrase that was dismissed years ago as inaccurate. He is charged with breach of peace in the second degree, and scheduled to appear Wednesday in Superior Court in New Haven.

Maisano, a Republican who unsuccessfully ran for the local Board of Education in 2021, has children in the town school system, and when he ran, he told a local news outlet that he thought the biggest issue facing his town was a school curriculum that created divisions among neighbors.

“Long-time friends have turned on each other,” Maisano said at the time. “Hateful words are expressed against neighbors. The irony is that it comes from people who preach tolerance. It is not acceptable and I would stop it.”

Questions:

• At Board of Education meetings who are the ones who usually raise their voices in anger? Conservatives or liberals?
• Who are usually the ones with street signs on their lawns with vulgar messages on their front lawns? Conservatives or liberals?
• Who are the usually the ones who come to protests events that are armed and dress like militia? Conservatives or liberals?

So it is little surprising that this guy says “Hateful words are expressed against neighbors.” from my observations it is the liberals who are on the defensive from these in your face conservatives.

Was his recent email an attempt to stop the hateful words, neighbor vs. neighbor? Because it didn’t work. The town mostly rallied around the teacher. A few of the grownups took to social media and threatened to dye their own hair multi-colored. Superintendent Paul Freeman released a soaring statement that called the female teacher whom Maisano referenced “an exceptional teacher, a varsity coach, the supervisor of two student clubs, president of the teachers’ association, a department chair, and the graduation coordinator. In addition to all the roles that she fills, and her positive relationships with students, she contributes to that school every day by simply being who she is.” 

But it seems to me it is these screaming in-your-face conservatives that are angry.

“To say that Black Lives Matter is not to suggest that white lives don’t. For another person’s child to read a book that you don’t like does not threaten your child’s well-being. To help Black students feel that they belong does not have negative consequences for anyone. And to be LGBTQ+ while attending a school event does not diminish that event in any way.”

Yes dear, there are right-wing MAGA or whatever they call themselves here in Connecticut.