N.C. Teacher Suspended for Showing 'Same Love'

A middle school teacher in Taylorsville, N.C., was suspended after playing rap artist Macklemore's pro-marriage equality anthem "Same Love" in class, reports the Taylorsville Times.

The teacher, who has not been publicly identified, played the Top 40 hit for students, displaying a pro-equality position as the video follows the life and death of a gay man as he faces harassment, coming out, and finding love.

The associate superintendent for Alexander County in North Carolina told the Taylorsville Times, "There was an inappropriate video shown in class, outside the bounds of the curriculum, that called for disciplinary action last week," at West Alexander Middle School.

The song, which Macklemore has said was created in support of Washington's Referendum 74, which established marriage equality in the state by popular vote last year, does at one point use the word "faggot," which has gotten other teachers into hot water.

Last year a middle school drama teacher in Michigan was suspended for three days -- two without pay -- after she let a student play the chart-topping track in her class. Macklemore later came to the teacher's defense, saying the incident "exposed a latent homophobia, preventing a safe space for all young people to feel confident in being themselves."

But in June a class of eighth-graders in Canada's Ontario province surprised their teacher by playing "Same Love" in class to demonstrate their support for the newly out educator. After the song finished, a student told the teacher, "That was for you, Mr. K.," as the whole class applauded and the teacher found himself with tears in his eyes.