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The internet weighs in after a mom was accused of "discriminating" against a girl who made comments about being gay in Bible club -- remarks the woman felt were "aimed at my son."
A woman has taken to the Internet for advice after being called "bigoted" for her reaction to an incident in her teenage son's Bible study group.
The story, posted to an anonymous forum, led to cries of bullying from Redditors -- not against the OP (a.k.a. the "original poster"), who said she was labeled "discriminating," but another teenager in her son's club.
Read on to see how it all played out in the AITA (Am I The A--hole) subreddit.
The Original AITA Post on Reddit
"My husband (42M) and I (42F) have 3 kids, our son Liam (12M) is in middle school," began OP, explaining that her son is part of a Bible study group.
"Because this is a public school, the teachers and admin cannot be directly involved, they can only be present to ensure no one gets injured. Same rules would apply for an atheist club," she continued. "The Bible club was started by a boy (13M) who attends our church, we are Pentecostalists. He's a good kid, loves baseball and treats Liam with respect."
OP said her son has been "bullied" because he's "more on the feminine side," saying he's a big fan of Taylor Swift and ballet -- and adding, "My husband and I have always made it clear to Liam we love him regardless."
It was very obvious these remarks were aimed at my son
She explained the Bible study group is open to anyone -- saying a 13-year-old girl recently joined the group. "Her family is Catholic, which we have nothing against," specified OP, before getting to the real problem at hand.
"The club met last week and the boy who I mentioned earlier asks the club if anything is on their mind, the girl says something along the lines of how 'homosexuality is a sin' while looking at Liam," claimed OP. "She said that boys should 'not wear tight clothing, like in ballet' and how men should be masculine and the providers. It was very obvious these remarks were aimed at my son. The boy tried to stop her, but she kept going on."
OP said she and her husband "were enraged" after hearing what happened from their son and contacted the administration, which she said was "currently working on figuring out what the best plan of action is, students have a right to form religious clubs and they still don't know what legally can be done."
"The mother of the girl has been posting on Facebook about how I am discriminating against her daughter and being 'bigoted' against Catholics," wrote OP. "She said that her daughter has the right to talk about Liam however she wants."
She then asked Reddit whether she and her husband "are going too far," wondering whether they're the A-holes in the situation.
Claims of Bullying and Other Reddit Reactions
The very popular post received more than 1.8K comments, receiving an official "Not the A-hole" label on the site. Almost all of those comments sided with OP, before calling the teen girl a "bully" and pulling out Bible quotes to use against her.
"Well, If one would want to fight fire with fire, hit her with 1 Timothy 2:12: 'I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over men; she is to keep silent,'" wrote one Redditor in a post liked more than 6K times.
"NTA. I was raised Catholic. There is no rule against slim fitting pants. That girl is bullying your son," wrote another, before someone else commented, "NTA. On the contrary, it's the girl's mother who is going too far. Saying her daughter has the right to say anything about Liam basically enables harassment and bullying. You have the right to protect your son from bigots like them."
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View Story"You are not bigoted against Catholics. You're bigoted against bigots," said someone else. Yet another post read: "It is sickening that they are using their religion to excuse their bigotry ... I really doubt Jesus would condone their behavior."
Others agreed having Bible study at a public school was just asking for trouble, with one commenter calling it a potential "breeding ground for bigotry and bullying" -- and another adding, "When you send you kids to a religious discussion group where the religious people have been arguing about things for thousands of years you can expect that they are going to disagree and judge each other."
Some also doubted the legitimacy of the original post, with one Redditor calling it "clearly fake, rage bait" and accusing OP of getting "your religions mixed up." Whether real or not, it clearly sparked a big reaction and was one of the most popular posts of the week.
What do you think?
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