Former Gay Porn Star Secures Right To Pursue Florida Teaching Certificate

We have been following a trend toward firing or disciplining public employees for their activities in their private lives, including statements made on Facebook or associations with unpopular groups. One group of employees are teachers and school employees who previously worked in the pornography industry (here and here). Shawn Loftis, 36, faced the same barrier to teaching due to his work as a gay porn actor as well as the director and owner of his own company, World of Men. After a campaign against him and a decision to bar him from teaching, Loftis secured a ruling that he could in fact return to teaching last Friday. He holds a master’s degree in public administration.

While he secured a substitute teaching job at the Nautilus Middle School in Miami Beach, the school’s principal launched a “moral crusade” against him and he was fired for gross immorality. His termination was later sanctioned by the Florida Department of Education in November, which barred him from getting a teaching certificate for five years.

However, last week, the state’s Education Practices Commission ruled that Loftis could secure a teaching job. The decision allows him to pursue a teaching certificate. He has already passed the exam, so now all he needs is a teaching job.

Nevertheless, Miami officials are noting that they do not have to give him a job even if he has a certificate.

This case, in my view, is deeply troubling. I do not agree with the decisions that Loftis made earlier in his life, but he did not commit any crime. Moreover, Loftis himself regrets those years. He stated “If the kids ever brought it into my class, I would talk to them about how it was not one of my better decisions, and that they have to keep on a right track, that they have to go to college, they have to live within their means.”

My concern, again, is with the growing authority claimed by parents and officials over the private lives and activities of teachers. Loftis has shown a strong commitment to teaching and secured an advance degree that most teachers lack on his level of education. His treatment in Florida seems all too much like a “Scarlet Letter” system for teachers. Perhaps we should be teaching our children the principles of a pluralistic society based on privacy values. A teacher is allowed to have private conduct and values that may not fit majoritarian preferences. However, he or she is a citizen allowed to enjoy the same range of lawful activities as other citizens. This is not to say that a teacher cannot cross the line in extreme cases. Yet, the strong presumption should be that a teacher cannot be fired for prior lawful activities or the exercise of free speech or association regardless of their unpopularity.

Source: NBC