Robert Marucci, an 18 year-old high schooler, was recently allowed back into his Florida high school after being suspended for his career as a gay porn star. “He stood up, and he was the man of the house when I couldn’t be,” Melyssa Lieb, his mother, told WKMG when defending her son’s explicit career. Marucci said he works in the gay porn industry to help pay his family’s bills. Administrators at Cocoa High School learned of Marucci’s career as a gay porn star from classmates who found videos of Marucci on an adult website and shared them with other students. The videos showed Marucci posing nude and having sex with other men.
“This was completely legal," Marucci said. "I didn’t break any laws, and this took place out of the school.”
A classmate posted to Reddit that Marucci had been suspended for 10 days, which caused an outrage among the public.
According to his referral note, the school referred to Marucci as a “major disruption.” Cocoa High School also claimed that Marruci threatened to bring weapons to school and that also contributed to his suspension. Marucci and his mother deny the allegations and claim he was only suspended because of his explicit career. However, Cocoa High School is a public entity, meaning that the school cannot discriminate against any individuals. As Marucci said, he did not perform any illegal activity, and his job took place outside of the school environment.
Not only was suspending Marucci because of his outside activities wrong and inappropriate, but the school in doing so showed itself as unprofessional. The school officials allowed their personal beliefs to play a major role in their profession. I’m not quite sure if Cocoa High School administrators understood completely what public means, but they certainly have re-evaluating to do. It seems I am not the only one who strongly disagrees with the school’s action of suspending Marucci. Fellow classmates organized a walkout at the school to express their disapproval of the suspension and support for Marucci. They also created a Facebook group in support of him that has more than 500 members. Cocoa High School responded to the outrage by allowing Marucci back to classes after being suspended for five days. The school claimed Marucci was suspended for various reasons and that the district would never suspend a student for legal outside activities. Marucci’s mother argues otherwise, stating that the principal discussed with her that her son was suspended “due to his explicit lifestyle.” An employee told CNN that the principal never had such a discussion. In a nation where we seem to be taking steps toward the acceptance of the LGBTQA community, Cocoa High school seems to be taking steps in the opposite direction.
Reach the columnist at Brooke.Ramos@asu.edu or follow her on Twitter @brookesramos
