Posted on 04/30/2005 12:38:38 PM PDT by President of HSCCA Tim Bueler
Activist Claims School Censored Protest Against Homosexual Event
By Mary Rettig April 12, 2005
(AgapePress) - Members of a high school conservative group in California are saying their First Amendment rights were violated when they tried to protest an upcoming pro-homosexual "Day of Silence" event.
Tim Bueler, a senior at Rancho Cotate High School in Rohnert Park, is the founder and president of the High School Conservative Clubs of America. Last week the Rancho Cotate High School Conservative Club participated in a demonstration called the "Day of Truth." The conservative protest was designed to counter a pro-homosexual observance known as the "Day of Silence," an event planned by the Gay-Straight Alliance and fashioned after a similar nationwide demonstration.
Over two days last week the Conservative Club members walked around Rohnert Park carrying signs bearing the message "Homosexuality is Sin" or citing scripture references against homosexuality. Many students wore pro-marriage messages on their sweatshirts and passed out pro-family literature as well.
The off-campus demonstration proceeded largely without incident. However, Bueler says the protesters were met with opposition when they tried to enter Rancho Cotate High School. "Our signs and our material were confiscated," he complains, alleging that school officials "confiscated all of our literature and our sweatshirts right when we got into class, and they cited material disruption."
The Conservative Club founder says he protested against the school officials' attempted censorship. The young activist recalls, "I asked our principal to look at the educational code under 'Religious Tolerance and Expression.' He wouldn't do that, but he confiscated our stuff just the same." Two members of the Conservative Club refused to take off their "Homosexuality is Sin" sweatshirts, and Bueler says they were suspended for the day as a result.
The leader of the conservative student group contends that the school administrators and teachers who tried to shut down the Day of Truth protest were actually demonstrating the intolerance that exists against biblical and conservative viewpoints. "They're just proving my point," he says.
"There's a liberal bias in public education," Bueler continues. "And not only that, but you have a day unto one group -- the Day of Silence, a pro-homosexual day supported by the school. And when any other group tries to demonstrate or have a day like they have, it's not tolerable."
The high school senior adds that his club is in contact with some Christian legal groups, who are going over the case to determine whether the students' First Amendment rights were violated.
School principal Mitchell Carter did not return calls requesting comments for this report. However, he was quoted in the local press as saying that the confiscated sweatshirts violated a school policy about messages on clothing "that represent bigotry and target particular protected classes" of students.
Welcome to FR, belatedly. :)
Has the ACLU offered taking this case on for the conservative student groups?
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Actually these conservative groups should take their "plight" to the ACLU, and when they refuse to do it, EXPOSE THE COMMIE MAGGOTS!!!
It works both ways!!
ping
Just a question, but did those engaging in the day of silence carry signs and engage in an actual "protest," or were they just silent? That could be part of the difference. I get the impression from this article that the anti-gay group was trying to carry picket signs into the school. I don't think "protest" from either side belongs in a school.
I'm also not sure what a protest against the "day of silence" would accomplish. Hand out literature to those who want it yes, but a protest, I'm just not sure. I think that homosexuality is unnatural and a sin, but I also don't know what wearing "God made Adam and Eve, Not Adam and Steve" T-shirts accomplishes other than driving homosexuals further away from Christ. On FR, I've seen articles about homosexuals with "fudgepacker" and "pillowbiter" as keywords, and I don't know why the mods allow this. I thought our goal was to turn homosexuals from their ways and bring more people to the conservative side of the aisle, not further embitter them and make them even more determined not to change.
Good for them.
I think the goal would be to keep the pillowbiters from bringing their sick agenda to school. The protest was designed to counter the fudgepacker recruiting and agenda-advancement day.
Haven't these kids heard? Some are more equal than others.
The same reason the prison doc uses an antiseptic swab before injecting a lethal dose of drugs to a convicted killer?.....Hard to answer, isn't it?
FMCDH(BITS)
Would you call yourself a Christian? I am just curious, because if you are more of the Rand-ian, atheist type of conservative, any spiritual points I could offer would be moot.
Homophobia
This term is probably the most outrageous invention of the "gay" sophists. In a way, it shouldn't even be considered sophistry, since it lacks any hint of subtlety. In contrast to the cleverness of most other examples listed here, the illogic of homophobia is insultingly blatant.
Originally, homophobia was psychiatric jargon invented to describe a person's fear of homosexual inclinations in him or herself. "Gay" activists simply stole the term and redefined it as "hate and/or fear of homosexuals."
As a rhetorical weapon, homophobia is unequaled. It serves first to define anyone who opposes the legitimization of homosexuality as a hate-filled bigot. The universal inclusion of all opponents as homophobic is of course not emphasized. Homosexual activists publicly associate this label with violent "gay bashers" and hateful fanatics. When they use the term they want people to think about the killers of Matthew Shepard, but in conventional practice they include every man, woman and child who believes homosexuality is abnormal or wrong. The way to expose this fact is to require the advocates of the "gay" position to state the difference between homophobia and non-homophobic opposition to homosexuality. They will reveal that they accept no opposition to their agenda as legitimate.
Secondly, the term defines opposition to homosexuality as a mental illness. "Gay" activists take special delight in this since it was scant decades ago that homosexuality was listed as a mental disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Psychiatry (removed by the political maneuvering of homosexual activists in a 1973 vote of the members of the American Psychiatric Association)
Thirdly, the term serves as the semantic equivalent of "racist," helping the "gay" movement to further indoctrinate the public with the notion that opposition to homosexuality is equivalent to prejudice against racial minorities.
Collectively, these aspects of homophobia serve to intimidate opponents into silence. When any opposition to homosexuality draws the accusation that one is a mentally-ill bigot equivalent to a racist, few people will dare to openly oppose it. Those who do will tend to be defensive, offering the disclaimer that they are not hateful (implicitly validating hatefulness as the general rule).
The use of the term is in itself religious discrimination because it implicitly disparages and declares illegitimate the religious teachings of several major world religions. Adoption of the term by government constitutes a prima facie violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, which prohibits the endorsement or inhibition of religion.
In summary, homophobia is a nonsense word invented by "gay" sophists as a rhetorical weapon against its opponents. It lumps together all opponents as mentally-ill "gay bashers" and in doing so declares mainstream religious doctrines to be harmful and illegitimate. The solution is to reject the term homophobia itself as harmful and illegitimate. Its illegitimacy can be exposed by making pro-"gay" advocates define the term and the distinction between homophobia and non- homophobic opposition to homosexuality.
Have all club members in the school wear these shirts every day. One side will have to cave in and I guarantee it won't be yours. If the school has no dress code. If the administration is determined to suspend the wearers of the shirts every day, eventually a religious discrimination suit will be in order. At least some sort of refusal of education complaint. As far as the shirts representing bigotry, they are practicing bigotry by choosing to discriminate against your group based on your religious beliefs. The Constitution says "Freedom of religion", not "Freedom from religion".
Frankly, the "Day of Silence," is one pro-homo activity I'm in full support of. In fact, why not let them keep their silence the other 364 days of the year as well?
I think sick fags pushing thier agenda in school is wrong. The ass pirates should just go back in the closet where they belong.
EXACTLY!
In this instance it is not the homosexualis we are trying to reach. At the point they are pulling these advocacy stunts in public schools I think you can safely say they are pretty well lost causes. It is the naive who might be deceived by these homosexual outreach events that we are trying to reach. I see absolutely nothing wrong with those t-shirts. They are an appropriate response to the homosexual advocacy in this case.
They aren't really silent because they pass out literature explaining why they are silent and advocating homosexual acceptance.
I can see this will go nowhere. Thank you for your response. If you think you're hurting my feelings by your language, you're seriously mistaken, as I am a married heterosexual. If you phrased them slightly differently, I would also agree with all of you statements. However, I do not feel like you are doing the conservative cause any favors. However, I support your right to express your opinion. Good day.
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