City Honors Fired Transgender Teacher After Emery School District Balks
Introducing Steve Dain Drive
School Board Digs In Its Heels Against Honoring Its Fired Teacher
The City of Emeryville has announced it will officially change the name of 47th Street to Steve Dain Drive on March 5th when employees from the public works department add the new signs to the existing street sign posts. Both the old street name and the new name will be posted for a period of 18 months the City reports but they will start calling the street by its new name in March. Only the portion of 47th Street West of San Pablo Avenue will get the name change.
In an announcement made last May, the City took on the task of honoring the late Steve Dain, a teacher at Emery Unified School District who was fired by the district in 1976 after he surgically transitioned from a woman to a man. City Council members expressed anguish that Emery School Board members had stopped a grassroots drive last year to honor the teacher the district had fired for “immorality” and it was suggested the City could act on its own by renaming the street, correcting the historic wrong.
The district’s high school is located on the future Steve Dain Drive, the same school where Mr Dain taught 45 years ago. The AC Transit bus yard is the only other entity that will have a Steve Dain Drive address.
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| School Board President Brynnda Collins Refuses to comment regarding the district's role in the firing of its transgender teacher for "immorality". |
The City Council took over the job of acknowledging Mr Dain after the School Board reversed themselves upon having made an initial move towards naming their newly remodeled gym for the fired teacher. Since then the Board has reneged on a plan to pass an official resolution apologizing for firing the teacher who had once been awarded the title of teacher of the year at Emery. Notably, the Board’s refusal to acknowledge the wrong done against Mr Dain by the district comes at the same time they have been honing their public message of "inclusionary equity".
The City has not announced plans for any official March celebration associated with the name change but there is talk of a street closing block party perhaps in the fall of 2021, depending on the status of the COVID pandemic by then.
Both AC Transit and Emery Unified School District have been notified of the impending renaming of the street City officials said.
School Board president Brynnda Collins and Superintendent of the Schools Quiauna Scott were both contacted to comment on the refusal of the district to account for the firing of Steve Dain and its failure to apologize but both leaders refused to respond.
How dare you talk over transgender people. Privileged white men need to shut up.
ReplyDeleteI was up front and a good friend of Steves when itcwas going on.IT WAS SOOO WRONG OF THE SCHOOL BOARD!!
ReplyDeletePrivileged white men are not welcome in our community. Hear that Brian Donahue? Just F***ing leave.
ReplyDeleteWell, since you put it like that, I guess I'm going to have to leave. Can you help me relocate? How far do I have to go?
Deletehahaha, just so we're clear. That's not me, the original "Blah Blah Blah". This is a new person picking up where I left off. This new "Blah Blah Blah" is more direct, and to the point. Can't say I disagree with them (again, notice the use of pronouns I use).
ReplyDeleteHow many Blah Blah Blah's are there? Are you all angry? Do you all know each other? Do you go bowling together per chance? In a league?
DeleteCould you kindly explain what this post means?
ReplyDeleteBrian Donahue February 12, 2021 at 4:30 PM
There's nothing wrong with being gay.
It might sound like a joke but even as a joke, it sounds insensitive. So could you please explain by what you meant on that post?
To the readers- This comment refers to a different comment thread. To the commentator- It means what it says. It seems like you might be defensive and a wee bit homophobic.
DeleteTo the readers- This was from a comment thread from a story on January 11th. When I asked Brian, the editor, why he used a gender specific pronoun when addressing me, he answered with this little nugget.
DeleteBrian Donahue February 11, 2021 at 4:56 PM
I have a right to speak because of the Constitution of the United States. It’s ensconced within the First Amendment and it’s a wonderful, wonderful thing. And I correctly called you out as a ‘mister’ because you yourself have told us that you are in fact a mister. Blah blah blah means a gay man. Blah is a cisgender man, blah blah is a cisgender woman, blah blah blah blah is a trans man, blah blah blah blah blah is a transgender woman, blah blah blah blah blah blah is a lesbian and so on. If you’re not a gay man, why did you claim to be a blah blah blah? Why did you ever think a gay man had any right to claim to not be a gay man?
To the editor- Since you're so well versed in transgender topics and jargon, could you enlighten your older readers, like myself, and explain what that post means?
To the readers-
DeleteFor context, the ‘little nugget’ from me was in response to the little nugget from Blah Blah Blah:
Blah Blah Blah February 11, 2021 at 9:40 AM
“Brian, why did you ever think that an older, privileged, white man had any right to speak for one of the most marginalized people in the world? And that's after your non-gender-neutral title in calling me Mister. I know you have tons of Blog readers that tune into your Blog to read your Blogposts, but it seems you messed up on this one.”
To Blah Blah Blah-
My readers know how I like to dispatch trolls. I perform this as a civic duty but admittedly, also because it’s fun (I always said the Tattler is going to be a source of progressive Emeryville news but also it’s going to be fun). As a self described troll, consider yourself so dispatched.
To the readers- Can someone answer for Brian as to what he was trying to convey with that post?
DeleteTo the editor- You haven't answered the question. Was that post an attempt at a joke? I stand by what I said, everything about it. Is this how you get rid of trolls? I really am asking nicely, what did you mean by that post because it really does make no sense to me.
To the readers-
DeleteDoes somebody want to take over placating Blah Blah Blah for a while? I grow bored.
To Blah Blah Blah-
You’re going to have to add this to the list of things that don’t make any sense to you. And that’s already a very long list. Extremely long.
I'm commenting on a story that talks about accountability. So could you please take some accountability on the things you've said? Why won't you answer what your motivations were for writing that post?
ReplyDeleteYou’re not interested in accountability, you’re interested in trolling as you yourself said. I like Tattler trolls but your postings are getting very uninspired and boring. It’s just too dumb to hold my interest any longer. Try being a little more creative or I’m going to disengage. And comment on the stories rather than on the comments...that's just trying for 'gotchas' and it's inherently uninteresting. It becomes a pissing contest to see who's more clever. Readers don't care about this kind of thing.
DeleteSo now you are going to censor me. I figured you would. The Tattler is against free speech and is not accountable to the readers.Why won't you post this comment Brian? Is it because it's the truth?
DeleteUgh, I wanted an answer for something you said and you didn't give it to me. I'm really not trying to be a troll now. You're a hypocrite who demands answers from people and who can't give them himself.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking there are at least 3 Blah Blah Blahs.I'm the original one and I say Brian needs to account for why he doesn't use the proper pronouns. This is more important than the school board refusing to apologize for firing the teacher. One happened long ago and the other is happening today. Brian is the REAL anti-trans person here.Brian, you're a hypocrite. We don't care about the school board or the school district.
ReplyDelete