As far as the gay student getting outed thing...
I'm no so sure. It was clear he'd already outed himself to a lot of people and made it public. He did agree to telling his parents, though he was obviously afraid of doing it himself. And if he'd already come out to the student body and other kids had had a negative reaction, I can see why they'd want the parents to be informed.
It sounds like the school picked up on the fact that he wanted them to know but didn't want to be there when it happened (I've known many youngsters in that situation for various things. A lot of them really want to talk about things, but don't want to be the ones to bring it up - they'll just try to slip it out there and hope the other person catches on and does the work of bringing up the sensitive subject)
Ultimately, I don't know enough details to know whether this was a mistake or not. But it seems possible that this was a reasonable course of action for the school to take.
And here's the problem with that:
possible. Given the very real and irrevocable consequences, we should really try to be sure.
Also, I think people really do legitimately confuse what's going on in that situation. EVERY kid wants their parents' acceptance on some level, whether they like and admit it or not. They want to be accepted for who and what they are. For a gay kid, that means being accepting being gay. For me, this was Stockholm syndrome, years of it. I couldn't believe how totally god damn horrible my family is and I WOULDN'T let myself believe it. Only after it completely imploded, fell apart, and scattered most of us to the winds with domestic violence charges did I finally let myself realize what was going on.
Even without my extreme circumstances, there is a significant segment of the population in this country who sincerely but secretly hate gays. That doesn't mean their gay children don't want their parents to know them and accept them.
There is a reason PFLAG says to stay closeted until you're firmly financially independent. Just because the kid wants that acceptance does NOT mean they will get it. This sad fact needs taken into account.