Support Available for Wiccan mom?

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This is from the Washington Times:

Dear Ms. Vicki,

I was told that you give good advice to military families and others. I’m writing because my children are being discriminated against by their teachers and administrators because we are Wiccans.

It all started when other children at their school found out we are Wiccan. The students now call my children witches and warlocks.

I know my children are being harassed, and this is not fair to them. Their grades are now falling tremendously.

I have complained about this to the teachers, counselors, assistant principal and the principal. They have done nothing about it.

I wanted to use this experience as a learning tool, to teach others about our lifestyle without imposing our views on others. It was my desire to stay calm and educate only to stop the fear and harassment. I asked to do a professional development session for the staff and a presentation to my children’s classrooms. I know this would help others understand, so they would stop judging and name-calling.

The teachers would not hear of this. They all said it would infringe upon the rights of other students who do not want to hear about Wiccans.

Now I don’t know how to help my children and I feel helpless. My husband wants me to keep my mouth shut because it would draw too much attention to our family and may affect him in his Air Force career. He acts like he is scared and doesn’t want to touch this issue. I just don’t think this is fair to my children. It’s not their fault we are Wiccan. What should I do next?

– Concerned Parent

The frustrating part of this letter is that it’s anonymous, so those of us in the Pagan community who might be inclined to reach out to this woman cannot do so. Also, being that it’s a letter from an advice column and not a proper article, there will mostly likely be no follow-up and we’ll never know how this plays out. Regardless, I wanted to post this letter in response to some of the hateful mail I’ve received of late over some recent posts, from people who believe that Pagans’ and Wiccans’ complaints about discrimination are without merit.

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