How is writing an opinion piece bullying?

   ...well, the truth is, it isn't but don't tell that to superintendent Todd "Perez Hilton" Carlson of the Shawano school district in Wisconsin.

    As much as I hate bullying and intolerance, this just isn't one of those instances.   A 15 year old by the name of Brandon Wegner was asked to write an op-ed piece for his school (Shawano High School) newspaper about gay adoption.  There were two sides of the issue given and he wrote the piece which opposed this form of adoption citing Scripture. I say again, he was asked by the school to give his opinion!
  
   Well, as it turns out, some didn't agree with his opinion and a gay couple who has a child attending the school complained.   The result:  Brandon had to visit the superintendent and was threatened with a suspension for his opinion and subsequently asked to recant his views but he didn't.  The school, however, issued an apology and said that his comments were "disrespectful and a form of bullying."
Say what?

  If anyone was guilty of bullying, it was the superintendent who denounced Brandon's opinions (which he was asked to give) and subjected him to intimidating statements about how he could suspend him if he didn't apologize for his view on gay adoption!

  Doesn't this sound somewhat familiar?  Anyone remember the Miss California incident from a couple of years ago when Carrie Prejean answered a question posed by a judge...Perez Hilton...regarding gay marriage?    She was asked her opinion and gave it but certain people didn't like it, so they responded by raking her over the coals and removing her of her crown.   Mr Hilton responded with an intolerant, sexist rant of his own on YouTube.    Perhaps Mr. Carlson is a fan of his or something.

  I believe that Mr Wegner was set up.  They probably knew what his opinion would be and asked him to write the piece so they could have an excuse to harass him.  The school should be the ones to eat crow, they are the idiots who chose the subject in the first place!

  This brought to mind something that happened to me a number of years ago.  I was involved in a theatre production in San Diego entitled "Sing On".  One evening, one of the cast members was absent so I was asked to read his part by the director.   I obliged and read his lines, which had consisted of making remarks about the weight of one of the other characters.  After the scene was over, the director confronted me off stage and told me that I was an asshole because he thought I was being mean when I read the lines.  He forgot, I guess, that I didn't write the script...lol!  The guy clearly didn't like me, nor I him, so he was chomping at the bit to come after me.  He asked me to do something, I did it, and the cry baby then villified me for doing it...how does that work?  This incident in Wisconsin was no different.

  Bullying is not giving your opinion when asked for it! That trivializes the issue.  Bullying is what Todd Carlson did; using his power to try and intimidate someone.  Bullying is when you target an individual with hateful remarks, go online and harass them, ostracize them at achool and verbally or physically injure or abuse them.  Brandon Wegner did not attack an individual, he merely disagreed with a lifestyle; a view point he was asked to give.