Posted on 04/27/2004 9:41:25 PM PDT by chance33_98
Anti-gay T-shirts spark suspensions
04/26/2004 By Scott Nicholson
A free speech and dress code controversy blossomed at Watauga High School on April 21 when students wore T-shirts apparently intending to counter a student action designed to support gays.
April 21 was a “Day of Silence,” a voluntary student-led movement in which students go through the day without speaking to mark their support for gays.
High school principal Gary Childers said the observation was not endorsed, sponsored or initiated by the school or its faculty. He said three students were observed wearing cards announcing their participation, while perhaps 15 to 25 may have been participating in all.
According to Childers, five other students wore T-shirts in response to the Day of Silence, bearing religious messages that were deemed “offensive” under the school system’s dress code.
The students were told the shirts bore messages that were interpreted as a violation of the dress code.
The dress code prohibits the wearing of any clothing or emblems that are “offensive to any race, religion, or gender.”
The students were offered the opportunity to change into T-shirts kept in the office for that reason, as outlined in the dress code. Three of the students refused and were suspended for the day, the penalty called for under the dress code if the behavior is not altered.
Three of the T-shirts deemed in violation bore the message, “God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.”
One made a reference to lisping, which is often used to stereotype gays, and another stated “Homosexuality is a sin” and other messages made references to Bible verses.
Childers said he made the determination that the shirts were in violation because of the part of the policy that banned “offensive” messages from clothing, not that they were targeted toward race, religion, or gender.
Childers said it was a “tough decision.” “It wasn’t anything anyone took lightly. The students were treated respectfully and nobody’s belief was ever challenged or questioned.”
One of the students, Mark Austin, spoke to the media about his experience and said he chose suspension instead of changing shirts.
“I wasn’t going to back down on this, and it’s completely driven by what I believe,” he said.
Austin’s shirt contained handwritten messages including “Homosexuality is a sin” and a reference to the King James Bible’s Leviticus 18:12. The shirt also contained the messages: “Hell is real,” “Solution: Jesus is the answer” and “Shout for joy,” with references to verses Revelation 21:8, Romans 10:9-10 and Psalm 132:9.
The 17-year-old junior has sought legal representation from the American Family Association (AFA) and plans to challenge the school and the dress code and believes his First Amendment rights were violated. Austin said his AFA attorney will be asking the school system to publicly apologize for the suspensions, remove the suspensions from their records, and be given full credit for the day of school that was missed.
His attorney will be asking the two other suspended students to join the action and plans to take the case to federal court if those conditions aren’t met.
Austin said homosexuals and heterosexuals have “exactly the same rights” but homosexuals “demand more rights” and that he was stating his Christian beliefs on his T-shirt. He also said Christians offer their messages to people in a nonconfrontational way.
“As Christians, the way we have been commanded to tell the truth is to make a stand very boldly, without compromise,” he said. “We present our message as truth and we try not to force it on other people. They can accept it or reject it.”
The Day of Silence was first observed in 1996 and according to www.dayofsilence.org, the day is a project of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) in collaboration with the United States Student Association.
It’s described as “a student-led day of action where those who support making anti-LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual) bias unacceptable in schools take a day-long vow of silence to recognize and protest the discrimination and harassment — in effect, the silencing— experienced by LGBT students and their allies.”
Watauga High School was one of many high schools listed on the GLSEN Web site as participating in the Day of Silence, but the organization said that listing does not mean the event is endorsed by school administration. Anyone can register a school using an online form.
Childers said this wasn’t an issue of the school’s choosing sides. He said if students participating in the Day of Silence had worn messages that were deemed offensive under the dress code, then they would also have faced the same penalties and actions. He said any messages deemed derogatory toward Christians would have been handled in the same way.
Austin said, “The message that was communicated to me was, if you’re not for or against it, why am I being suspended? It’s offensive to Christians for that day (of silence) to even be happening.”
“We do get criticized for lack of consistency and enforcement of the policy,” Childers said, adding enforcement of the code could be difficult because of the variability of potential violations.
“We do our best under those circumstances to be fair,” he said. Most of the difficulty in enforcing the dress code comes with the sections dealing with dress length and the prohibition on clothing that bares midriffs. The dress code also addresses safety issues.
Childers said the most common violations for messages deemed offensive are shirts for the chain restaurant Hooters, as well as occasional shirts that contain what could be viewed as sexual innuendo.
Austin said he was treated with respect by the Watauga staff despite the ruling.
Childers said he had talked to Austin the next day and said he respected his rights and beliefs. “I respect this young man a lot, as I do all the students involved,” he said.
Childers said school was not disrupted by either action and there has been no lingering fallout from the incidents. The incident has received limited national attention after an article appeared last week at the conservative news Web site WorldNetDaily.
“Watauga High School has not taken a position for or against homosexuality or for or against Christianity,” Childers said. “My job here is to focus on teaching and learning.”
AS the younger kids head into "social studies" for a reading of "Heather has Two Mommies!"
I'm still awaiting the ruling that states that the U.S. Constitution is "unconstitutional."
I'm partly jesting, but very largely serious as well.
Gary Childers is the Principal of Watauga High School.
If you e-mail him, PLEASE BE RESPECTFUL!
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