Last week, we reported that openly gay Challenger Middle School teacher Gerald Gapusan, or “Mr. Gap,” as he’s known by students and parents, was allegedly forced to step down from heading the school’s annual East Coast field trip after a parent complained to the school district about the contents of the teacher’s MySpace.com Web site.

Outraged with the school district kowtowing to what many believed to be one homophobic parent, fellow teachers, students and parents rallied in support of their newly awarded “Teacher of the Year,” and demanded that he be reinstated as the trip’s head chaperone.

But now that Gapusan’s MySpace profile has been made public – and we’ve seen it – we can’t help but wonder just how many “Gap supporters” have actually had a peek.

Here’s an example of one posting: “You are the horny type! You want to fuck all the time. You have been known to pass your cock or ass around.”

You want more? There are adult-oriented clips with words like “assfuck” and “cunt,” pictures of porn stars and images of half-clothed men embracing with taglines that say, for example, “Click this image to see me naked.”

Mr. Gapusan, do you honestly believe material like this is appropriate for your middle school students to view on your Web site?

Nobody is saying that Gapusan doesn’t have a right to a private life, but teachers do sign a morals clause in their contract as to how they comport themselves in public, even when not at work. Morals clauses are ambiguous and open to interpretation, but even Gapusan’s most ardent supporters would have to agree that there is a line – and we believe Gapusan’s crossed it.

The Internet is still a relatively new phenomenon, and many of the moral and legal implications associated with it have yet to be ironed out. Teachers have a right to a private life, but they have to be careful how they behave in public, and we believe the Internet is public.

Gapusan may have built his MySpace page in the comfort of his own home, but it exists “out there” in the ether. Anyone can access it. It isn’t as if he displayed it on his chalkboard in class, but it wasn’t locked up in a vault either.

Saying that Gapusan made a few unwise decisions is an understatement. Even if he was comfortable with the content of his MySpace page, he should have realized that it would have caused some parents to be concerned. We live in a time when people of all ages Google just about everyone – even ourselves – so he should have known that one of his students would eventually find his MySpace page. Gapusan’s freedom of speech does not trump his responsibility as a public employee in a leadership position.

We may expect too much of our teachers sometimes, but we should at least expect them to make smart choices. Gapusan should be fired – not for the MySpace account and its content, but for his deliberate deception: Once the MySpace account was discovered and made public, Gapusan should have apologized for his poor judgment and immediately closed or taken all offensive material off of his site. The fact that he rallied people in the community – teachers, parents and administrators – in his support was selfish and deceptive. Most never saw the extent of his site. For that he owes them an apology. And for his incredibly bad judgment he deserves to lose his job.

To view Gerald Gapusan’s MySpace page and judge for yourself, click the PDF links below.

If you would like to respond to this week’s editorial, e-mail us at editor@uptownpub.com or send letters to P.O. Box 34624, San Diego, CA 92163. Please include your full name, address and phone number for verification purposes. Only your name will be published. Letters must be 500 words or less.