I made a friend request to one of the men who stood up before the school board to protest the issue of a rock at a Middle School in Paulding and he responded. I will not name him in this post. He accepted my request so that he could read my comments which are on my wall. He then gave me his phone number so that later in the evening I did call him to talk with him about what had happened.
Since my friendship with Don was in my youth, there is little that I can say about his adult life. We had remained friends until the gay pride program began in earnest and Anita Bryant became the target of their undisguised hate and contempt. She complained that she feared that they intended to kill her, and that was the beginning of the end of my sympathy towards the gay agenda.
This is not an apology for Don's behavior after he had grown out of his adolescent fears and complexes, but it is to give him some amount of support for his having been a good friend to me in our Senior year. I met him in Van Wert, Ohio one time after he had begun teaching in Paulding, Ohio. He had gone to Ohio State University where he had learned that being gay was a natural and normal experience for many male types who have a propensity for emotional security in their own sex, and for sexual satisfaction through cohabitation with other men. In other words, there he learned that for some such as Little Richard, Paul Lynde, and a host of others that being gay is cool. Gay parties are quite entertaining, and he apparently attended many of those parties.
With that in mind, he forgot to realize that in the majority of households in America, gay is not cool, is not hip, and is not fun at all. Religious bodies condemn it wholesale, as do many other social organizations, including the boy scouts of America. In America, each has the freedom to practice what it teaches.
Don forgot all that when he obviously took it upon himself to expose his gay nature to young boys at an age where they were literally emotionally and physically unable to withstand the awesomeness of his age, his education, and perhaps even his attraction.
What literally happened between him and his select group of boys is more than I know but I am certain that he indulged in his own desires by seducing some of them. They will have to speak for themselves, but I know for a fact that he was capable of doing such a thing since he had told me that he thought that some boys had an attraction to him. He would have not been a strong enough man to avoid exploiting that and taking advantage of it. And unfortunately, finally the truth came out. He had been fool enough to force himself upon at least two who have dared to speak up.
He is gone now. I was sad to see his name appear in headlines because as I said once a friend, always a friend but we had had a parting of the ways late in our lives. I became opposed to the gay action group who threaten non gays. I find that unfair and repugnant to me. Don did tell me that I was lucky to be alive the last time that I heard from him which was in 1974. He did still write to me then and had sent me the picture of the class of '54 reunion.
He thought of me as being a lot like Doris Day, not just because we both had freckles, and both were spunky and full of fire but also because he thought of me as some kind of Calamity Jane. Anything you can do I can do better theme.
I will remember Don Schnepp with fondness for his being a light hearted and funny guy. He was always honest with me. When his dad suggested that Don marry me, because when his dad learned of his being gay all he could think was that all Don needed was a good woman, Don owned up to me that he was gay and liked only boys. I wish more men could be so honest with other women in that respect. Both Kathy Lee Gifford and Anita Bryant can testify to that as we have learned.
It seems that the gay world exists in its own little world. When it comes into conflict with the heterosexual world, there is bound to be trouble. Don should have had better sense than to inflict his desires on young boys at such a tender age. He surely should have been apprehended and stopped then.
But I remember when I was teaching 8th grade at Center Intermediate the entire class knew about Tim Keenan who admitted in the class that he is gay. Gay problems are better understood in California than in Ohio I guess. We all knew who the gay members of the faculty were and we knew how to handle it. Never did any get into trouble with a student. Yes, even the Lesbian gay faculty members were known as well as the men. Every school district probably has at least one. We had more than our fair share. Kids love to discuss this in my classes in California. They also like to look up my skirts if they can. I had to learn how to stay at least ten feet ahead of my students. It must be just as volatile today as it was when I was in the field. However, I began a trend by wearing pant suits. And waxing nostalgic,I remember my favorite 8th grade math teacher, Mr. Young, who got into trouble because of Diane Roth and Diane Hardin who on a phone call made an accusation that was overheard to cost Mr. Young his job. Oh, how we loved him! I wanted to marry him. He did finally marry his sweetheart. Life goes on.
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