Posted on 04/17/2005 10:45:46 AM PDT by Pikamax
SOUTH WINDSOR -- Four high school students were sent home Friday after they wore T-shirts bearing anti-homosexual slogans to school, causing a series of disturbances as other students became "emotionally distraught," students and school officials said. The boys, who wore white T-shirts on which they had written, "Adam and Eve, Not Adam and Steve," say their constitutional right to free speech has been violated.
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"We were just voicing our opinions," said Steven Vendetta, who made the T-shirts with his friends, Kyle Shinfield, David Grimaldi, and another student who asked not to be identified. "We didn't tell other people to think what we're thinking. We just told them what we think."
But other students say they felt threatened by the shirts, which also quoted Bible verses pertaining to homosexuality.
"I didn't feel safe at this school today," said Diana Rosen, who is co-president of the school's Gay-Straight Alliance.
Vendetta said the impetus for the T-shirts came earlier in the week, when students at the high school took part in the annual Day of Silence, a project orchestrated by the national Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network. On the Day of Silence, students across the country do not speak, as a reminder of the discrimination and harassment experienced by homosexuals.
Students at the high school also wore signs showing their support for legislation that would recognize civil unions for same-sex couples in Connecticut, Vendetta said.
Vendetta and his friends, who oppose civil unions, wanted to make their feelings known.
"We felt if they could voice their opinions for it, we could voice our opinion against it," he said. "There is another side to this debate, and we're representing it."
Almost immediately, the shirts drew comment and debate from other students, Vendetta said.
"I walked down the hall, and people were either cheering me on, yelling at me, or just sneering," he said. "It was the most intense experience."
Teachers brought the situation to the attention of high school Principal John DiIorio, who said Friday that the law protects students' freedom of speech, as long as that speech doesn't disrupt the educational process.
He told the boys they could continue to wear the shirts as long as they didn't become a distraction to others.
The students returned to class. But heated arguments and altercations ensued almost immediately, with some students becoming "very emotional," said student Sam Etter.
Rosen said that when she first saw the shirts, she "almost didn't believe it." She became very upset, crying and spending most of the day in administrators' and guidance counselor's offices. She also got into several arguments, she said.
"I saw a large crowd gathered during one of our lunch waves," said senior William "B.J." Haun. "A large debate was going on. It involved a lot of people. By the end of the day, everyone was talking about it and giving their two cents."
Eventually, DiIorio called the boys into the office and told them that other students were becoming "emotionally distraught," Shinfield said. He then asked the boys to remove the shirts. They refused and were sent home.
DiIorio said no disciplinary action has been taken against them.
Shinfield, who says he believes "the choice to become homosexual is against the will of God," says he doesn't regret what he did.
"If we took the shirts off, it ruined the whole point of wearing them," he said. "I wouldn't have been able to deal with my conscience. This topic is really important to me."
But he added that he didn't intend to hurt other students' feelings.
"It upset me that people took it personally," he said.
Alex Goldberg, a member of the Gay-Straight Alliance, said his classmates have a right to their opinions but took it too far.
"School is supposed to be a safe zone for everyone," he said. "It's crossing the line when you target other people."
The Day of Silence... all the little commie gays who don't want to speak get a little stack of papers with their mission statement on them before classes start. The papers say something about the abuse to the gays and how they've been repeatedly met by silence. Only these people refrain from talking. The teachers roll with it at my school quite well- as they're all on that side of the issue. Everybody else talks.. blahblah... but I found it a pretty wasteful day... and almost made my own Adam and Steve shirt (got shot down by my 'rents).
You can bet that the only "disturbance" was the hysterical reaction of the pro-sodomy students.
A friend of my son recently wore a shirt reading "ABORTION
IS MURDER" to school. One of his teachers tried to incite students against him, and, when he failed at this, complained to the principal that he (the teacher) was offended by the shirt.
The principal told the teacher to grow up.
They could also sell Ecclesiastes 10:2 shirts.
That is an interesting issue. Minors are a special class that are subject to a more elastic interpretation of The Constitution than adults. For example, the 4th Amendment has been pretty much tossed out on school grounds (and rightly so). The 1st amendment is subject to constant re-interpretation (as in the instant case). School uniforms have been found to be constitutional.
What is important is that if there are free speech issues that both sides of the argument be heard. It is patently wrong to allow pro-gay agenda "speech" without allowing the opposite side equal time.
Actually, since the "Day of Silence" is so disruptive (one girl spent the day in the office and admitted getting into arguments with people) it should be forbidden.
I've been surprised at the number of people on this forum who think the Constitution doesn't protect 'minors'.That is an interesting issue. Minors are a special class that are subject to a more elastic interpretation of The Constitution than adults. For example, the 4th Amendment has been pretty much tossed out on school grounds (and rightly so). The 1st amendment is subject to constant re-interpretation (as in the instant case). School uniforms have been found to be constitutional.
All true -- but, again, not because the Constitution doesn't protect 'minors' but because they're in school. The fact that they're (mostly) not yet 18 has nothing to do with it. A senior class filled with 18-year-olds (or older) is subject to the same restrictions.
(And of course none of this is a Constitutional issue in a purely private school, because such a school doesn't count as 'the government' for Constitutional purposes.)
What is important is that if there are free speech issues that both sides of the argument be heard. It is patently wrong to allow pro-gay agenda "speech" without allowing the opposite side equal time.
I agree. In this case, the school should have either allowed both or forbidden both. My preference would be that it allow both.
Ping!
Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) - http://www.alliancedefensefund.org
Thomas More Law Center (TMLC) - http://www.thomasmore.org
American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) - http://www.aclj.org
The Rutherford Institute - http://www.rutherford.org/
Stop the ACLU Coalition (GREATLY ORGANIZED ACTIVIST SITE..PLEASE JOIN) - http://www.stoptheaclu.org
Here are a few examples of how two of those organizations are fighting back:
ADF Contacts Over 3,600 School Districts Over Attempts To Censor Christmas
ADF: 700 lawyers ready to fight ACLU lawsuits
ADF: Pentagons' Warning About Boyscouts Is Absurd
Thomas More Law Center: Town of Palm Beach Pays $50,000 In Attorney Fees Apologizes To Women In Nativity Lawsuit
Additional information:
The ACLU must be destroyed: Joseph Farah supports Boy Scouts, urges Americans to fight back
Citizens mobilized to stop ACLU (seeks to consign group to 'ash heap of history')
ACLU fulfilling communist agenda
Revealing FACTS on the ACLU from its own writings
See how YOUR Senator or Representative ranks with the ACLU
This yahoo group just started on December 3, 2004 and is looking for new members
The Center For Reclaiming America (petitions to congress)
American Family Assn. Center for Law and Policy
"I seek social ownership of property, the abolition of the propertied class, and sole control of those who produced the wealth: communism is the goal." - Roger Baldwin, ACLU founder, Harvard Reunion Book, 1935
"The establishment of an American Soviet government will involve the confiscation of large landed estates in town and country, and also, the whole body to forests, mineral deposits, lakes, rivers and so on." - William Z. Foster, ACLU co-founder and former chairman, Communist Party USA.
Let me know if you would like to join my ACLU ping list
The whole student body was distraught my butt!
"I saw a large crowd gathered during one of our lunch waves," said senior William "B.J." Haun. "A large debate was going on. It involved a lot of people. By the end of the day, everyone was talking about it and giving their two cents."
And these people who supported the day of silence got into silent, non-verbal arguments and discussions I suppose. lol
The boys could've changed into tee shirts that said, "Made ya talk!"
If I was gay, I wouldn't feel safe either. There's no safe sex in homosexuality.
LOL!!! You da man. Just wait a year or two; then you can join the College Republicans. They can use your enthusiasm.
Free speach applies ONLY to those that don't wish you to speak out..
I HAD A DREAM - That one day, it will be legal to challenge ACLU lawyers to a duel.
The ACLU really needs to buy a vowel and get ACLUE.
Americans need to recognize the objective of the ACLU is the destruction of America and its Constitution -- NOT the protection of either..
Semper Fi
Their rights have been violated.
I have inside information.
My son is a Senior at South Windsor High School. He knows 2 of the 4 kids who were kicked out, one of them he knows well.
He said the vast majority of students were angry at school officials for kicking the students out. He said that there was very little problems until school officials became involved. He said that most of the ruckus came from supportive students when the t-shirt wearing students were being escorted out of school.
The sprinting coach on the track team is a priest. The unnamed student is on the sprinting team, as is my son. The sprinting coach expressed praise for the kid.
This is absolutely correct. EVERYONE who does not agree with HETEROPHOBIA must actively protest and complain bitterly to the administrations of these little indoctrination camps that they're "upset" and that the day of silent propaganda is "disrupting their ability to focus on school"...
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