An education blogger in Utah is out of a job today after writing a blog post explaining “homophones” for the Nomen Global Language Center.
Tim Torkildson said he was fired by his boss and NGLC owner, Clarke Woodger, for promoting a gay agenda.
If you need a quick reminder from elementary school English class, a homophone is a word or words that are pronounced like another word but varies in spelling or definition, like “to, too, and two.”
This is not the same as a homophobe, which is defined as a person who hates or fears those who identify with a homosexual orientation.
“This blog about homophones was the last straw. Now our school is going to be associated with homosexuality,” Woodger allegedly told Torkildson before letting him go.
Torkildson wrote a post about the firing here.
“I had to look up the word,” Woodger allegedly told him, “because I didn’t know what the hell you were talking about. We don’t teach this kind of advanced stuff to our students, and it’s extremely inappropriate. Can you have your desk cleaned out by eleven this morning? I’ll have your check ready.”
The story was picked up by the Salt Lake Tribune, where it reads as an article worthy of The Onion.
According to the Tribune,
Woodger says his reaction to Torkildson’s blog has nothing to do with homosexuality but that Torkildson had caused him concern because he would “go off on tangents” in his blogs that would be confusing and sometimes could be considered offensive.
Nomen is Utah’s largest private English as a Second Language school and caters mostly to foreign students seeking admission to U.S. colleges and universities. Woodger says his school has taught 6,500 students from 58 countries during the past 15 years. Most of them, he says, are at basic levels of English and are not ready for the more complicated concepts such as homophones.
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Utah Education Blogger Says He Was Fired For 'Promoting A Gay Agenda' After Writing About Homophones
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