When you spend a lot of time on the internet, where news of petty cruelties travels at the speed of light, you get jaded pretty quickly. You find yourself thinking things like, “Well sure, that video of a policeman tazing an 80-year-old nun who was leading an orphanage field trip is pretty bad, but it’s nothing compared to that jackass ‘artist’ who starved a dog to death for one of his ‘exhibits.’” In other words, it becomes more and more difficult to be impressed or shocked by the random idiocy and violence that’s out there.

But once in awhile, you come across a story that far exceeds the internet’s usual standards—a story that replenishes your faith that humanity has yet to plumb its deepest depths, that we still have miles to go.

Today it comes, via reddit, in the form of Principle Daphne Beasley of the Hollis F. Price Middle School in Memphis, a school for 150 of the district’s top African American students. Apparently, she is psychotic. According to Box Turtle Bulletin, “Seeking to eliminate public displays of affection, Beasley asked that students and teachers report suspected romantic couples to her. She then compiled a list and posted it where teachers and other students could read it.”

I’m no teacher, but I have a hunch this isn’t a good thing to do. Call me crazy. But things quickly got even worse when a gay male couple was put on the list. According to Memphis Eyewitness News (also via Box Turtle Bulletin):

One of the young men, Nicholas, an 11th grader who just made the Dean’s List, spoke with Eyewitness News Everywhere.

“It was actually frightening,” he says, “to see a list with my name on it where not just other teachers could see but students as well.”

Nicholas says his teachers and other students treat him differently as a result of Principal Beasley’s decision and that he and Andrew have both had to deal with verbal assaults. Nicholas was also not allowed to go on a trip to New Orleans to help rebuild homes because, as one of his teacher’s [sic] explained, he would “embarrass” the school by engaging in gay affection.

“I really feel that my personal privacy was invaded,” Nicholas says. “I mean, Principal Beasley called my mother and outed me to my mother!”

Thank you, Principal Beasley, for reminding me that all the random tazings and dog-starvings are merely red herrings, and that we have so much farther to fall.