Amber Parker, 53, taught English at Franklin High School in El Paso until she was sacked after making the comments in class, which were captured on video and subsequently shared to social media.
During the 18-second long clip that was posted to TikTok, the teacher can be heard telling students: ‘Stop calling them that. You’re not allowed to label people like that. Stop it, Diego. We’re not going to call them that.
‘We’re gonna call them MAPs, minor attracted persons. So don’t judge people just because they want to have sex with a five-year-old.’
The term ‘minor attracted persons’ allows people to escape the ‘stigma’ attached to the word pedophile.
The clip was recorded during a class discussion on The Crucible, and some of her students said she was not expressing her own views, but rather discussing provocative opinions.
Jason Parker, her husband of 30 years, said they were left shaken by the fallout.
‘We were shaken to the core about these accusations,’ he wrote on Facebook.
‘It is both scary and disturbing that an edited 18 second clip could destroy a 30 year career when taken completely out of context.’
Amber Parker, 53, who taught English at Franklin High School in El Paso, was fired for telling students ‘don’t judge people for wanting to have sex with 5-year-olds’ and asking them to call pedophiles ‘minor attracted persons’
Parker was said to have been teaching students about The Crucible play when the subject suddenly veered onto pedophiles. She is pictured with husband Jason and their two grandkids
Parker (right) is pictured with husband of 30 years, Jason Parker
Parker’s comments in class which were all captured on video and subsequently shared to social media
Jason Parker said that his wife was dedicated to her students, and condemned the decision to fire her. He said it was misguided.
‘She is exemplary as a teacher and truly cares about the students,’ he said.
‘Needless to say we have spent many sleepless nights because of this cruel release to social media of the 18 seconds.’
Parker wrote in response to a Facebook post by Daniel Call, vice president of the El Paso Independent School District board, who said the video was lacking context.
Daniel Call, a school board trustee, said he believed Parker was pretending to advocate a position to challenge her students and prepare them to read the play. He then changed his mind
‘Update on my last post; After hearing from some of the students that were in the class, including my own nephew, I believe now that the teacher that appeared to be promoting and normalizing pedophilia was pretending to advocate a position she didn’t actually believe in order to challenge the students in preparation for them reading the [play] ‘The Crucible,” Call wrote.
‘The video that many of us saw was missing this important context.
‘I regret the negative attention that this situation has brought on this teacher and wish her well. I’m told she is a great educator.’
Jason Parker continued: ‘We pray that you and the rest of the board will see this for what it is and not allow and edited video destroy an innocent woman, her career and her family in the process.’
But Call later deleted the post, commenting: ‘My opinion about this situation changed once I was briefed by the district in closed session regarding the results of their investigation.
‘There are facets of this situation that are not public knowledge.’
Amber Parker has not responded.
Parker, a married mother-of-five children and two grandchildren, was identified by the El Paso Teachers Association as the woman on the recording
The school district was immediately informed of the incident, which occurred at the end of August – and an investigation was launched, initially leading to Parker’s suspension.
El Paso’s Independent School District board of trustees, led by Superintendent Diana Sayavedra, then unanimously voted to fire Parker following her controversial remarks.
Liza Rodriguez, communications officer for the school district, said: ‘After a thorough investigation was conducted, on September 6, 2022, during a Special Board Meeting, the Board of Trustees approved a decision to notify a Franklin High School teacher of proposed termination.
‘Any allegation of potential misconduct is investigated thoroughly, and the safety of our students is a top priority.’
Some students and parents were quick to defend the teacher – who believed that the clip did not represent Parker’s beliefs and the conversation was taken out of context.
But others condemned her for her words.
The Texas teacher has been fired after she was caught on tape instructing students not to use the term pedophiles, but instead use the term ‘minor attracted persons’
El Paso’s Independent School District board of trustees, led by Superintendent Diana Sayavedra (pictured), unanimously voted to fire Parker following her controversial remarks
The school district was immediately informed of the incident, leading to Parker’s suspension and subsequent firing
Ryann Ruvalcaba, a junior at Franklin High School told Fox 17: ‘She [the teacher] was expressing how it was ridiculous how we [society] might not be able to call people pedophiles.
‘That we [society] will probably have to start calling them MAPs because it can be offensive to them [pedophiles].
‘The class agreed.’
Parker, a married mother-of-five children and two grandchildren, was identified by the Teachers Association as the woman on the recording.
When DailyMail.com reached out to Parker, she claimed she was ‘not legally allowed to comment at this time.’
Norma De La Rosa, the El Paso Teachers Association president, said she is disappointed and angry that the decision to terminate Parker was approved so quickly.
The school board had recommended Parker’s suspension without pay or end-of-term termination of the 2022 to 2023 probationary employment contract.
Parker has the ability to appeal the decision.
Trans Old Dominion University professor Allyn Walker, 34, – who was forced to resign last year after they defended pedophiles by saying society should call them ‘Minor Attracted Persons’ – has been hired by a Johns Hopkins center aimed at preventing child sexual abuse
Parker isn’t the only educator to use the term ‘minor attracted person’.
In 2020, a transgender Old Dominion professor was forced to resign after they defended pedophiles by saying society should refer to them as ‘Minor Attracted Persons’.
Allyn Walker, 34, was later hired by Johns Hopkins University as a postdoctoral fellow for the Baltimore school – at a center aimed at preventing child sexual abuse.
The center, created in 2012, describes itself on its website as ‘a research center that creates, through rigorous science, a public health approach to preventing child sexual abuse.’
Walker, who uses they/them pronouns, was forced out of Virginia’s Old Dominion University in November 2019, after more than 15,000 outraged onlookers signed a petition to have them removed for the contentious remarks made by the professor that were expanded on in the 2021 book ‘Long Dark Shadow: Minor Attracted People.’
In the book, Walker attempts to destigmatize pedophilia and encourages people to refer to them as ‘Minor Attracted People,’ asserting they should not be ostracized for their urges – which Walker says cannot be helped.
Other contentious claims made by the professor – who possesses a doctorate in criminal justice – in the book include suggestions that pedophiles should also be provided with child-like sex dolls to satisfy their urges, and that the sex crime was not ‘immoral.’
While promoting the publication, Walker said: ‘A lot of people when they hear the word pedophile, they automatically assume that means sex offender. That isn’t true. And it leads to a lot of misconceptions.
‘They believe pedophiles don’t ‘choose’ who to be attracted to – so [it] shouldn’t be considered ‘immoral.’
The professor further said pedophiles should be offered ‘help’ and aren’t’ ‘destined’ to act on physical urges.
Professor Walker – who possesses a doctorate in criminal justice – suggests pedophiles should also be provided with child-like sex dolls to satisfy their urges, and that the sex crime was not ‘immoral’
Walker was also panned for remarks they made in a November interview, where they argued people can be attracted to children without acting on that impulse.
Pictured: Walker’s book, in which the 34-year-old attempts to destigmatize pedophilia and encourage people to refer to them as ‘Minor Attracted People,’ asserting they should not be ostracized for their urges
The professor defended using the term ‘minor-attracted persons’ to describe the phenomenon.
‘It’s less stigmatizing than other terms like pedophile,’ Walker said.
‘A lot of people when they hear the term pedophile, they automatically assume that it means a sex offender. And that isn’t true. And it leads to a lot of misconceptions about attractions toward minors.’
The remarks quickly inspired outrage among students, who said the professor was using a ‘blanket’ term for pedophilia and was an apologist for criminals.
The university’s own Trans Advisory Board released a statement to call Walker’s remarks ‘reprehensible’, damaging to the victims of pedophilia and not reflective of the views of the trans community at large.
The backlash spurred school brass to place Walker on leave, saying it was for their own safety.
A petition was then drafted by students calling for Walker’s nixing, which – along with fierce protests on the Virginia school’s campus
Following the announcement of Walker’s firing they said in a statement: ‘I want to be clear: child sexual abuse is an inexcusable crime.
‘As an assistant professor of sociology and criminal justice, the goal of my research is to prevent crime,’ Walker asserted.
‘I embarked on this research in hopes of gaining understanding of a group that, previously, has not been studied in order to identify ways to protect children.’