The Straight Pride T-shirt controversy that played out last week at St. Charles North High School, was litigated out of Neuqua Valley here in District 204 two years ago. In 2008, similar circumstances had a student's "Be Happy, Not Gay" slogan on a T-Shirt protected by First Amendment.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, based in Chicago, ruled on April 23 in Nuxoll v. Indian Prairie School District No. 204, 2008 Westlaw 1813137, that officials at Neuqua Valley High School in Naperville, Illinois, may not forbid a student who is opposed to homosexuality from wearing the slogan “Be Happy, Not Gay,” on his T-shirt. Reversing a decision by District Judge William T. Hart, who had refused to order the school to allow Alexander Nuxoll to exhibit that slogan on his T-shirt during the so-called National Day of Truth that anti-gay activists promote as a counterpoint to the National Day of Silence sponsored by the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network in the nation’s high schools, the appeals court found that censoring the slogan would violate Mr. Nuxoll’s free speech rights under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
http://newyorklawschool.typepad.com/leonardlink/2008/04/alert---7th-cir.html
Is this more similar or more different than the Snyder v. Phelps first amendment controversy.
The ACLU marked the 40th anniversary of landmark student free speech decision, Tinker v. Des Moines with this video that show that the student free expression over gay rights is cutting both ways.
www.aclu.org/lgbt/youth/38778res20090224.html
11 comments:
JK, but in another example of student speech being suppressed, notice how the student's interview was muted by "technical difficulties" at WGN by the District 303 administrator was heard loud and clear......
I believe that schools have the ability to sensor what is said while classes are taking place. T-shirts like the one at Neuqua valley are very disruptive to a class setting and these distractions should not be allowed to occur. I only think that the shirt should be allowed to be sensored in the school but not anywhere else.
I think that stsudents with such derogatory messages should not be allowed to wear something so offensive in school. While technically nothing can be done outside of school to prevent them, the shirts can definitely be deemed distracting and disruptive to education.
But furthermore, the school should exercise its ability to limit harmful speech if for no other reason than to teach students that it is wrong. On a personal level, I don't understand homosexuality and it is very foreign to me. But I have had friends whom I found out after meeting and befriending them were gay. And while shocking to me, I don't think that it makes them worse human beings for it, much like I don't judge someone solely based on their race or religion. I understand people being confused or even bothered by gays, but I also think people need to mature and get past their xenophobia. If someone were to have such a hateful message towards blacks or Jews or some other minority, there would be an outrage. It's time people realized that gays are just another minority, and the fact that they are different does not make them inferior.
St Charles North has every right to censor these students becasue the back of there shirts were a bible verse inciting death as a punishment for homosexuality (Leviticus 20:13 if anyone was interested). There is a tendency for death threats to incite violence. However, all political statements that don't incite violence, or death, should not be regulated only becasue some one has gone through the school gates. Our first amendment rights don't go out the door only because we don't have the right to vote!
Schools do have the right to censor what is being said. As it is, there are rules in place within schools that determine what can and cannot be said in a classroom setting, to determine an appropriate dress code, etc. Why should this be any different as indeed it is disruptive to the educational process and discriminatory against certain students?
While students have the right to say and wear what they please outside school, on school grounds, the students must comply with the restrictions placed by the administration and the school has the right to censor what can and cannot be written on a Tshirt.
So far, 100 percent have commented that schools have the right, or the duty, to censor. And, or course, they do. But the real question here is how is the balance maintained?
Does a Gay Pride message get or deserve equal protection or suppression from the school as does an Anti-gay message. And who makes that call, can the school board do what it wants and keep whatever message it doesn't like out of school (ie: Like banning a lesbian student from bringing her date to prom).
Well, everyone's advocated being different, so here goes. Here's a thought, or a few. While schools of course have the right, or should, to ban such things, that's not the question. The question is a matter of whether they should. School is supposed to prepare students for the real world, to prepare them for the future, which will be spent outside the school. If most, if not all, have agreed that students should be able to wear whatever they wish outside of the school bounds, then why should they be limited within when it's meant to simulate without? Sure, it's certainly a distraction, especially if you're gay as it most likely will offend you to some level. But if that happens in the world outside, the outcome would be the same. You'd be offended, or take note, or whatever your reaction, and that'd be that. You wouldn't be able to do anything, you're not going to resort to violence or make a nuisance out of yourself, so that's that. It teaches teenagers (I'm assuming this wouldn't happen with younger kids, hopefully) to react and handle situations as they would elsewhere.
I think schools should be allowed to censor hateful message that makes students feel uncomfortable and disrupts the learning process. School is mandatory and necessary to suceed in life, it should create an open environment for everyone. Messages like "Be happy, not gay" and "Straight Power" suggest that there's something wrong with being gay and that being gay is inferior to being straight. A shirt like "Marriage is between a man or a woman" is merely stating a political belief and not alienating a group of people and that should be allowed.
I feel like these students should not be allowed to wear shirts with hateful messages on them because, as said above, it can be disruptive to students. Above all, I think it is important that students have a safe enviornment where they can learn without fear of harrassment. In school, we are supposed to have our views expanded so that we can learn more. However, it is important to balance the voices of the students. I don't think it is particularly fair that students who support gays can actively show that if students who are against it cannot voice their opinions (given that they are not hateful). Some maybe offended by the people in favor, simply because of religious views. Perhaps the best solution is to ban all tshirts concerning the issue. Though it may seem harsh, I think it's important to balance all sides. It's a sensitive issue that should be handled with caution.
While we all want to say that school is a public forum and that we maintain all of our first amendment rights, that is simply not the case. Especially when it comes to hate speech, a school or learning environment is simply not the place to be promoting your political stances. There are plenty of occasions where wearing a shirt like that would be more acceptable, such as a political rally. But at a school a level of decorum must be maintained.
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