Alumni speaker Jim McGuire condemned homosexual relationships in his speech at the River Valley graduation ceremony.
The owner of a manufacturing company encouraged the graduates of the public school to pursue romantic relationships.
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McGuire made a comment about relationships after opening his speech.
I suggest choosing a spouse. He said to make sure to choose Biblical principles, which include a male with a female and female with a male.
The transcript of the speech was made public by the district, along with an official statement from the administration.
In the statement, the district says that McGuire was speaking on his own accord and not on the part of the district. The speech was not pre-approved by the administration.
The speech was not reviewed by anyone on the RV Administrative team or the Board of Education. The statement said that the speaker was not speaking as an official representative of River Valley Local Schools.
In cooperation with the River Valley Board of Education, the River Valley Administrative team will be reviewing our processes for future ceremonies.
The community has responded to the speech with public outrage.
A River Valley graduate who was at the ceremony to support her younger sister who was graduating.
When he made the comment that marriage should only be between a man and a woman, my jaw dropped to the floor, and I honestly thought I was hearing it wrong.
I had to look around and see if other people were reacting the same way as I was. When I heard people clapping, I cried. My parents and brother were equally angry. People behind me were whispering about how inappropriate the comment was.
Osipow spoke out about the disrespect she saw in the speech and made a Facebook post Saturday addressing the River Valley graduates, expressing her sadness for the way the special moment was overshadowed.
She asked the district to respond to the incident in her post.
The next board meeting of the district is to be held on Monday at the Tri-Rivers Career Center, and angry members of the community have posted about their plans to attend and speak out over social media.
The statement was issued by the board becauseMcGuire is a board member.
MCBDD wanted to address the board at the local ceremony. We did not attend the ceremony, but our mission is to include all people. We are learning the facts of this incident and will be meeting with the county Commissioners to discuss his appointed position as a board member.
Cheryl Plaster said she reached out to the Commissioners Tuesday and spoke with Ken Stiverson and Kerr Murray. The county board will discuss his position with the Commissioners.
Jim is a new board member. He has attended two board meetings and supported the community.
We are an agency that believes in inclusion for all, so obviously we took this very seriously.
She said that she spoke with McGuire who said that he hopes his views do not reflect poorly on the organization.
I had a chance to talk to him and he hopes to not make things difficult for us here at the board.
Multiple attempts were made to contact him, but he did not respond.
Sophia Veneziano wrote the story.
River Valley alumni's anti-gay speech sparks outrage.
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