A school teacher at Efland-Cheeks Elementary says he may resign over the controversy surrounding a book he read to students with a homosexual theme.

The decision by third-grade teacher Omar Currie to read the book “King & King” to his class three weeks ago led to an emotional public hearing in front of over 200 people on Friday night at Efland-Cheeks gymnasium, where Currie received lots of handshakes from supporters.

Currie said his decision to read “King & King” stemmed from a scene he saw at the school where a student derogatorily referred to a classmate as “gay.”

“King & King” is a book about a prince in search of love who ends up marrying a man. A picture at the end of the book shows the two men kissing.

A review committee received a formal complaint but ruled in Currie’s favor. Then more complaints came in, leading to the principal enacting a new policy that requires teachers to inform parents of all books they plan to read in class.

Currie says his intent to read the book was to take a stance against bullying.

“For me, my choice to read this book over a book that directly stated ‘bullying’ was to not ‘otherize’ people,” said Currie, who is in his second year at Efland Cheeks. “I think that’s something we do often in schools. We create others and we create people in categories. It was critically important for me to address the issue in a very positive way. I felt that reading a book that just exposes the issue was the most positive way I could do that.”

The majority of the people who spoke on Friday night supported Currie, but not everyone. Parent Rodney Davis, who attended Efland Cheeks as a student, accused Currie’s supporters of bullying and tried to link a pro-life stance on abortion.

“I have one word: deceive,” said Davis. “Think about what’s going on here. We have two leaders here [Currie and assistant principal Meg Goodhand, who gave Currie a copy of “King & King”] who have proven themselves to be bullies by promoting their LGBT agenda. We’re supposed to tolerate their agenda while they stand intolerant to ours. To the LGBT, tolerance is a one-way street. The LGBT is against bullying. Well, are you against the murdering of 4,000 babies who were ripped apart in their mother’s womb today?”

Shortly afterwards, Davis interrupted a statement by school district spokesperson Seth Stephens and was asked to leave the meeting.

Lisa Baptist says her opposition to “King & King” has led to her being called a bigot and a racist, which she denied.

“I don’t hate anyone,” said Baptist. “I believe we all have freedom to choose. My choice is I don’t want a book like ‘King & King’ being read to my grandson when he’s only in the third grade.”

As the controversy flares up, Currie says he may resign from Efland-Cheeks, though that may not be popular with his students.

“This morning, a former student had me crying in the hallway,” said Currie on Friday. “He asked me not to leave. Right now, I have to be in a position to where I can do my job successfully. And that’s outside of these types of issues, as well. That requires the support of my administration at central office. I’m still waiting to have a conversation with them.”

Currie says he will meet with officials from central office later this week.

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