Image copyright @louisvanamstelA substitute teacher has been sacked from a school in Utah after allegedly berating the adopted son of Dancing With The Stars professional Louis van Amstel for having gay parents.
Mr van Amstel accused the teacher of bullying his 11-year-old, who he is in the process of adopting.
The teacher asked the class what they were thankful of for Thanksgiving.
The boy said he was thankful for “being adopted by his two dads”, according to Mr van Amstel.
In response, the teacher allegedly said “that’s nothing to be thankful for” and gave the class a lecture about homosexuality, Mr van Amstel said.
The teacher has been fired by Kelly Services, the subcontracting company that hired her.
Mr van Amstel, 47, vented his anger over the incident at a school in Cedar Hills, south of Salt Lake City, in a series of social media posts.
The teacher, according to Mr van Amstel, told the boy that “two men living together is a sin”.
“The substitute teacher was giving her very clear opinion that two men is wrong, homosexuality is wrong,” Mr van Amstel said.
Three girls asked the teacher to stop, but when she did not, they complained to the principal, Mr van Amstel said.
As the teacher was escorted from the school, she “continued to argue her point”, school officials told Mr van Amstel.
A spokesman for the Utah school district said “appropriate action has been taken”.
In a statement, Kelly Services said: “We are concerned about any reports of inappropriate behaviour and take these matters very seriously.
“We conducted an investigation and made the decision to end the employee’s relationship with Kelly Services.”
In January 2017, Mr van Amstel married his long-time boyfriend Joshua Lancaster in Sundance, Utah. A final court hearing about the adoption of the boy is scheduled for 19 December.
A Dutch-American ballroom dance champion, Mr van Amstel was formerly a choreographer on the US reality television series Dancing with the Stars.
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