Vandals hang up racist and homophobic signs on junior high walls: 'It's not OK to be gay'

Posters bearing explicit racist and homophobic messages were found in a junior high school on Wednesday morning, and teachers rushed to remove them from the walls before students arrived.

The hateful signs were discovered at McCormick Junior High School in Cheyenne, Wyo., though it’s still unknown who posted them. The signs read, “It’s great to be straight. It’s not OK to be gay. Black lives only matter because if it weren’t for them who would pick our cotton? Join the KKK (the confederate kid club).”

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Principal Jeff Conine reviewed surveillance camera footage carefully to try to determine who the culprits are, but cameras were unable to capture footage of the vandalism, according to the Wyoming Tribune Eagle.

Conine said he will not know what kind of discipline will be taken until he discovers who was responsible for the crime. If it was committed by students, they could receive out-of-school suspension for up to 10 days. He confirmed it was the first incident of its kind at the school.

“I don’t believe this is a prevailing sentiment that exists in the school,” he said.

Though the posters were taken down, members of the community have learned about the incident. One local, Shayna Lonoaea-Alexander, has already condemned them on Twitter.

“I can’t help but be concerned,” Lonoaea-Alexander wrote. “Because these incidents are not isolated. They happen ALL the time … But by doing nothing, being silent in the face of these acts: The message you send is deafening.”

She added, “That black lives don’t matter. That LGBTQ folks don’t deserve to be protected. That women should fear for their safety. That Muslims and immigrant families don’t belong here. We are all Wyoming. An attack against one of us is an attack against all of us.”

She suggested sitting down with those who were responsible for the hate in order to promote “accountability and empathy.”

The Wyoming Tribune reported on Wednesday that the same flyers were handed out by students later in the day, according to a teacher, but it was later reported that this was not true, and that only two posters were actually put on the walls.

But three other unnamed sources contradicted that information, telling the publication the walls were “papered with flyers,” and that “students with Confederate flags were passing out the flyers to targeted students in the GSA club at the school.” Kaycee Cook, co-sponsor of the Gay-Straight Alliance, or GSA club, reportedly said many of the club’s members have been bullied — and that several of them confirmed they were handed the flyers.

Conine later told Wyoming Equality executive director Sara Burlingame he had no knowledge of students passing out flyers. However, Cheyenne Mayor Marian Orr claims she had already informed Conine of the incident.

Burlingame also claims Conine confirmed that a student shouted the word “f****t” at GSA students, and that Conine reprimanded the student. As of Thursday morning, the principal refuses to comment on the scandal while it’s under investigation, especially since the suspects might be underage.

Some are starting to demand that Conine take action. One person wrote on Facebook, “That principal needs to wake up. This isn’t just an isolated incident. And a 10-day suspension does NOTHING. They need to have an assembly to assess these issues with all students in the district ASAP.”

Yahoo Lifestyle has reached out to McCormick Junior High and the Gay-Straight Alliance for more information on the developing case.

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