Mass. student heckled by woman during meeting after saying she has been ‘personally attacked in school’ for being gay

A high school student who was speaking about bullying during a school committee meeting in Franklin, Mass. earlier this week was heckled by a woman in the audience.

Mackenzie Atwood, a senior at Franklin High School, was speaking Tuesday about how all students should be protected regardless of their gender, gender identity, sexuality and race when she was interrupted by a parent.

“This woman stood up and said that this was the type of indoctrination that is being taught in schools,” Atwood told CBS Boston.

A video of the meeting shows the student visibly upset, as a woman can be heard yelling in the background. About 40 minutes into the meeting, the parent interrupts Atwood mid-sentence and yells: “This has to stop. This is indoctrination.”

“I am gay,” a stunned Atwood responded. “Call me what you want about that, I’m being personally attacked in school about that.”

The situation escalated. Atwood, shocked and fighting tears, removed her face mask and expressed disbelief that the woman could look her “in the eye and say that I’m not being oppressed at this.”

The tense exchange led the school committee chair, Dr. Anne Bergen, to intervene, warning the parent to stop or she would be asked to leave.

“This meeting will be conducted respectfully, and there will be no shouting out from the crowd,” Bergen said. “That is not how we ever, ever, conduct meetings in this building.”

Franklin schools superintendent Dr. Sara Ahern later sent a letter to school parents, referring to the incident as “appalling” and “unacceptable.”

The student’s mom, Laura Atwood, told CBS Boston that it was “sad” to have “adults acting that way.”