"and here I am talking to the media.”

Mr. Sullivan still doesn't get it. Teachers are expected to do a great many things: deliver appropriate curricula, keep children safe, model appropriate behaviour, foster various values, etc. They serve 'in loco parentis' to other people's children. That is a very high responsibility.

Students are not a captive audience for teachers' off-beat passions or political views. Teachers are citizens with the usual rights. But their freedom of speech is necessarily curtailed because of their role: there are all sorts of topics that teachers are rightfully expected to treat very, very carefully: religion, politics, stereotypes, contentious ethical issues, their own personal histories and personal lives, etc.

The great majority of teachers are aware of and respect these boundaries: Mr. Sullivan seems convinced that his unusual belief is correct and furthermore that he has the right to impose that belief on others, to press the matter publicly, etc.