LGBT equality at heart of 10-year-old's heroic ‘no pledge’ decision

Heroes are typically defined by actions. They area sometimes widely known and seen on television and other times they are the person working behind the scenes at the local church or charity, the person too many of us walk past without even acknowledging.

Distinguishing between a hero and a hyped personality can be a difficult, and too often, heroes fall before our eyes, and make us wonder if they were ever deserving of the title in the first place.

Other heroes come out of nowhere and surprise us. Ten-year-old Will Phillips is such a hero. The West Fork, Ark., fifth grader made national headlines after he refused to say the Pledge of Allegiance in his classroom. He said he didn’t believe the Pledge was appropriate since not everyone in the country has full “liberty and justice” as the last line indicates.

When Will’s story broke in the Arkansas Times, national media attention came calling.

“It’s sometimes overwhelming,” the young Phillips told Watermark from his home in West Fork. “But I think it’s worth it to be able to make enough change and to be able to make people start talking.”

The self-proclaimed nerd appeared on CNN and was the star of a segment on The Daily Show with John Stewart. His refusal to say the Pledge has turned him into a media star and put the spotlight on same-sex marriage and LGBT rights in an area not often thought of when it comes to LGBT equality.

“I posted Will’s story on my Facebook page and half of my friends deleted me because they said I wasn’t the person they thought I was,” says Laura Phillips, Will’s mother. “That was hard to deal with when their true colors came out. What’s really sad is the farther we get away from our street, our school district, our town and our state, the more positive the response is. It seems more people understand the motives behind what he did.”

Laura says that people understand that her son acted because he saw a flaw in the country’s laws, not because he wanted to be a brat.

A hypocritical pledge
After asking his parents whether it was against the law not to stand for the pledge earlier in the school year, Will decided to do something. On Monday, Oct. 5, when the other kids in his class stood up to recite the Pledge of Allegiance, he remained sitting down. The class had a substitute teacher that week, Will says. Though the substitute tried to make him stand up, he respectfully refused. He repeated the action for several days.

Each day, the substitute would get a little more upset. Finally, on Thursday, the teacher told Will that she knew his mother and grandmother, and they would both want him to stand and say the pledge.
That’s when Will made it clear his position wouldn’t change.

“After a few minutes,” Will recalls in the original interview, “With all due respect, ma’am, you can go jump off a bridge.” That’s when he found himself in the principal’s office.

After talking with his parents, the school’s principal decided that Will didn’t break any rules. However, the story about the boy who supported equality for gays and lesbians quickly spread through the small town.

Can a child of only 10 years really speak for himself when it comes to deciding what is right and wrong when it comes to politics? Many have posted on social networking sites and news sites that the child must have been coached.

“This was definitely a conscious effort on his part and he’s speaking from his heart,” Laura says. “We talked about the pledge, not even from the LGBT aspect, but because so many people were asking why we still say it. What about the racism, sexism…those issues we still face in this country?”

Laura says she doesn’t say the pledge; her husband, Jay, still does.

After hearing arguments from both of his parents, Will determined that the country still has a ways to go before it truly embraces everyone.

“I definitely think gays and lesbians deserve the same rights as everyone else,” Will says. “And until they are given equality in every way, I don’t see the point of standing and saying the Pledge.”

A regular kid
When asked if he considers himself a hero, Will humbly says he isn’t. Real heroes, in his mind, are people like Al Gore, Benjamin Franklin and Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

“They have all done large thing and they all had much perseverance,” will says. When asked what living hero he’d like to meet, he doesn’t hesitate.

“I’d really love to meet Barack Obama,” Will says. “I was so excited when he won and I feel he’s making an impact.”

When he’s not getting interviewed by CNN or speaking at LGBT equality events, Will is a typical 10-year-old child. He enjoys reading and he listens to Whip Cracks, which provides commentary to films from the Mystery Science Theater 3000 gang.

“Those are always really funny,” he says. “I usually just do homework, read or watch TV. In the summer I’ll go to camp.”

Despite the media flurry following him around, Will says his studies are doing just fine and he doesn’t see the attention as a distraction.

“I completely forget about [the media attention] at times and suddenly I get on CNN and then I forget again,” he says. “Then I’m on The Daily Show, and then I forget about it again.”

Will says he has seen some changes in relationships with classmates, but for the better. Initially, other students would pick on him and call him “gaywad” or other derogatory terms. Once the school district learned about the harassment, however, the bullying ceased.

“Everyone is just back to business now,” he says.

Ahead of his time
Jay Phillips was not interested in his son becoming a celebrity. The Fayetteville, Ark., native believes celebrity can be toxic to a child if parents are careful.

“I figure he’s got his whole life to solve the problems of the world, but he only has one chance to conquer the fifth grade,” Jay says. “We immediately started refusing interviews after CNN because he got his message out. But in the case of [Watermark] it makes sense for him to talk because he has support.”

Even though the family is limiting interviews, Will is still appearing in newspapers, magazines and television shows across the country. He’s quoted in the current issues of Rolling Stone and Time Magazine.

“He’s quoted in Time under their blurb section,” Jay says. “The first quote is from the chairman of Goldman-Sachs, then my son, and below him there’s a quote from Sarah Palin and Hugo Chavez. It’s so weird.”

The Phillips know that eventually the attention surrounding the 10-year-old who wants to be a constitutional lawyer will die down, and when it does, it’ll be a blessing.

But Jay is hopeful that his son who wears the Harry Potter glasses will keep people talking about equality.

“We joke that he’s like Harry Potter and the Sword of Intolerance,” Jay jokes. “But I do think he’ll be involved in changes in our country.”

Will agrees. His goal in life, he says, is to ensure equality for gays and lesbians.

When asked if he had any specific thing he’d like to say to Watermark readers, Will only needed a moment to think.

“If it’s the last thing I do I’ll make gay marriage legal,” Will says. “Oh yeah, and nerds are awesome.”