Anti-Gay T-Shirt Ban Upheld

[davidinalameda]

http://www.365gay.com/Newscon06/04/042006tee.htm

A suburban San Diego teenager who was barred from wearing a T-shirt with anti-gay rhetoric to class lost a bid to have his high school's dress code suspended Thursday after a federal appeals court ruled the school could restrict what students wear to prevent disruptions.

The ruling by the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals addressed only the narrow issue of whether the dress code should be unenforced pending the outcome of the student's lawsuit.

A majority of judges said, however, that Tyler Chase Harper was unlikely to prevail on claims that the Poway Unified School District violated his First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and religion for keeping him out of class when he wore a shirt with the message "homosexuality is shameful."

Tyler Chase Harper sued the Poway Unified School District in San Diego federal court after the principal at Poway High School refused to let the student attend class wearing a T-shirt scrawled with the message "homosexuality is shameful."

[xchrom]

1. while i'm glad the ban was upheld --

it just pisses me off to no end the little fuck would dream of wearing such a thing.

[BlackHeart]

4. While he is obviously a

'little fuck', (and a dumb little fuck at that) doesn't the little fuck have the right to free speech?

[xchrom]

6. you're talking to the wrong guy.

i'm not all that fond of ''free'' speech.

certain people express themselves simply to spread chaos and fear -- and no amount of ''more'' speech counter acts that which they seek to spread.

not unlike what the nra spreads or conservative christian churches -- these are wells of endlessly renewing hate and fear.

there is no counter speech for that.

and in a school where there are going to be gay children -- whose parents pay taxes and have an expectation of safety for their child in return for the money spent -- it's reprehensible.

[BlackHeart]

7. So are you against free speech in general?

Or would you set up 'no free speech zones'?

[William769]

8. So do you advocate going into a theater & yelling fire?

Where do we draw the line? Inquiring minds want to know.

ON EDIT: Would you also advocate slurs against African Americans in schools? Surely that would not disrupt the daily routine.

Would you like me to site several more?

[xchrom]

10. you are right on target -- we are lulled into thinking

that as americans we can say whatever we want in public discourse -- or even less than discourse --

it's not true.

and it most certainly shouldn't be true in schools where the safety of kids is involved.

racial or sexual orientation slurs starts the fire in the theatre.

[BlackHeart]

13. Nice try but no comparison

burning a flag or wear a shirt that says " I don't like fags" is protected speech in my mind.

[William769]

15. And I wonder why...

[Cornus]

17. If you wonder why...

...there's no comparison, then it's really useless trying to explain. This is a perfect example of someone who *just doesn't get it* re: free speech.

[ThomCat]

12. Are you trying to provoke something or just being absurd?

[William769]

16. Just speaking the truth.

[JoshWatermanMN]

11. I agree

I hate the shirt, but I like the fact that the little creeps put convenient little labels on themselves so we know exactly how to treat them. Truth in advertising, baby.

[Caoimhe]

2. Why do haters hate? n/t

[Maat]

3. Thanks, Dwickham.

I was waiting for them to issue their decision.

[msongs]

5. "christianity is shameful" should be legal as well if anti-gay is ok

let's see, how many people have been raped, tortured, and murdered by homosexuals since the year zero?

how many by christians?

hmm, which is more shameful, christians or homosexuals?

just because it's in a bible doesn't mean its true.

If you can wear shirts condemning others because of your religious beliefs, others should be able to wear shirts
condemning you because of their religious beliefs about you....right?

Msongs
www.msongs.com/political-shirts.htm

[davidinalameda]

14. my religious beliefs and the beliefs of millions of others

tell me that we're all God's children

I'm so sick of these people hiding behind their narrow interpretation of the Bible

the Bible has been misused over the centuries to support slavery, the killing of Jews, etc

how would the court feel if someone came to school wearing an anti-Semetic or a racist shirt and used their "religious beliefs" as a rationale

and it's been proven time and time again in this country the the right to free speech isn't absolute

[closeupready]

9. Gay students have a right not to be harrassed by hate speech.

So I like this ruling.

If they want to speak out against gays, do it somewhere else.