Two high school football team members from Kearns High School in the Salt Lake City area have been indefinitely suspended after sharing a video to Snapchat in which members of the team burn an LGBTQ Pride flag and laugh while someone says, “all gays die.”
FOX13 reports: “Granite School District officials are determining the proper punishment, which could include community service or school suspension for the student who posted the video and another who reposted it. … The video is considered cyberbullying and a safe school violation.”
Coach Matt Rickards spoke with local news media: “There’s no place for that in our program at all, and it won’t be tolerated. It’s potentially a hate crime, so it sickens me. We have one rule in our program, and that is not to embarrass yourself, your family or your team. That rule was broken. There’s got to be consequences for that. Our number one goal is to build men of character, integrity, be responsible, have empathy for others and serve the community for good. That’s our number one objective.”
KSL reports that a criminal investigation is ongoing, and former students who are part of the LGBTQ community will speak to the football team and the students. The two students involved have been removed from the football team and school officials are determining whether they will face academic consequences.
