Mesa AZ high school punishes two boys for fighting by coercing them into faking the rainbow amidst jeers

Westwood HS principal
Dr. Timothy Richard

Mesa is an extremely right-wing, heavily Mormon community. This happened at Westwood High School, whose principal, Dr. Timothy Richard, 35, of Wolfeboro, N.H., came up with the punishment.
     Richard has an Ed.D. in educational leadership and an M.A. in educational leadership and administration from Jones International University [a for-profit, online-only institution] and spent four years in military intelligence in the U.S. Air Force. From Wikipedia:

In 1999, JIU became the first fully online university in the U.S. to be accredited by the Higher Learning Commission, and a member of the North Central Association. This decision caused outrage from the American Association of University Professors on the grounds that the teaching staff had no academic freedom, and that an institution that taught only one subject could not claim to be a university.JIU currently offers bachelors, masters, and doctoral degree programs in business and masters and doctoral degree programs in education according to its website.

Commenters on gay blogs had a lot to say about this story.

From Towleroad:
     Francis: Mesa, Arizona is one of the more Mormon cities in the United States, is extremely red, and most people in the city appear to agree with the "punishment" that they view two men holding hands as being.
     giovanni: "if these guys were cool and wanted to get the principal back, they would have hugged and done some open mouth kissing.

From JoeMyGod:
     penpal: The blatant homophobia and bullying are apparent enough, but beyond that is the basic premise that two men, even straight men, showing affection for each other is taboo and to be avoided at all costs is abominable. They're not raising boys there, they're raising damaged goods.