Three Chicago high schoolers wear anti-gay shirts to anti-bullying week
By Brian FairbanksNovember 12th, 2010, 11:10 amComments (11)
It's anti-bullying week in Chicago-area public schools, but that didn't stop the anti-gay religious right from coming out to protest. Three kids at St. Charles North High School in St. Charles came in on Monday wearing the above shirt ("Straight Pride") with an oft-misquoted Bible passage suggesting homosexuals should be put to death.
The principal had the kids black out the Bible quote with a permanent marker but two more kids showed up the next day wearing "Straight Pride" shirts. They were forced to cover them up all day with sweatshirts, but the damage was done. Right-wing students are showing up today in all black to protest censorship and supporters of the middle ground and civil rights for everyone were told to wear both black and blue.
Free speech, of course, does not allow for offensive T-shirts that advocate executions for homosexuality, but try telling that to these misguided teens. Still, you have wackos like this mom, who commented on a local news story about the controversy by yelling: "The right to FREE speech trumps the right to not be offended! HOW dare they ask these students to cover up these phrases!! It does not sound as if they were pushing violence!!" Quite the opposite, ma'am: it sounds exactly like they were pushing violence.
Comments ( 11 )
If 'straight pride' means 'anti-gay', then does 'gay-pride' mean 'anti-straight'?
won't somebody please think of the children!
Wait...why doesn't free speech allow for people suggesting that gays folks should be executed? It is not the same as saying "I will kill you" or "so-and-so needs to be murdered immediately." In fact, it's akin to saying that US soldiers in Iraq should be arrested and executed. I do NOT think that gay folks are deserving of anything other than love, but how is the expression of the opinion that gay folks should be executed not a free expression of an opinion or belief?
These kids are total dicks. They probably have a long future of being total dicks ahead of them. But there's nothing wrong with a shirt that says "Straight Pride," and without reprinting the Bible verse that also appeared on their shirts (which should be the most crucial piece of evidence to anyone planning on judging these kids) this post is needlessly incomplete.
The issue isn't so much generalized free speech (yes, the government can't punish you for walking down the street wearing a shirt that advocates the death penalty for homosexual conduct) as the intersection of free speech and public schools. Schools have a right to impose restrictions on student speech if they reasonably conclude that the speech would interfere with their education function. The problem here is that they seem to have opened the door a bit having an anti-bullying week that is being seen instead as a gay-pride event. I don't know enough about the details. For example, if it's really just anti-bullying, it should deal with all minorities and disempowered people who are victims of bullying, not just gay students. If, on the other hand, it is at it's core a gay-pride/tolerance issue, then "straight pride" shirts are probably also ok. Restrictions on student speech have to be content neutral -- you can't permit only one side of an issue from being represented (though again, to be clear, I do *not* know that the schools did that here).
How frequently do kids get bullied for being straight?
Speech intended to incite violence is not protected by the first amendment. You could (quite easily) make the argument that the suggested execution of anyone either in text on a t-shirt or spoken aloud is intended to incite violence.
well honey take LGBT pride.
seriously i just feel sorry for these guys, such close minded people.
Why is anti-bullying restricted to LGBT students? Plenty of other students get bullied for a variety of reasons. Shouldn't the school district try to reduce all forms of bullying?
Freedom of speech, people. Use it, abuse it, and push it to the limit with these people. Cant anybody wake up and realize what the LGBT wants. They want the whole world to be like them, thats the only way they'll ever be accepted. They're so conceited and selfish, Gay this, Gay that, Gay Bars, Gay Restaurants, Gay everything. They dont even use common logic. If this whole world turns Gay, the human race will cease to exist in 75 years, did they ever think about that? Hell no they didnt. Keep up on giving them a hard time. They need to be snapped back to reality, cause they live in DREAMLAND. Dont buy into they're propaganda. Its BS!!!!!
Remember that the school is a public institution. If the administration doesn't prevent students from making offensive political statements --in this case celebrating the eternal torment of their classmates-- It will escalate. You want freedom of speech? I'd be buying a 'jesus is a cunt' t shirt.... Or a shirt that depicts christ masturbating etc... If you want to dish it out, you better be able to take it and christians can't...
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