ADF files suit after NC high school suspends student for distributing Day of Truth cards

Alliance Defense Fund ^ | 5/4/06

[dukeman]

ADF attorneys to defend student’s constitutional right to express a different perspective on homosexual behavior

WILMINGTON, N.C. — Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund have filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in defense of a Midway High School ninth-grader. The student was given a school suspension last Thursday to be served on Monday for distributing Day of Truth message cards to his classmates during non-instructional time.

“School officials shouldn’t be treating religious students any differently than they treat other students,” said ADF Senior Legal Counsel David Cortman. “Other students at the school were allowed to participate in the Day of Silence, showing their support for the homosexual agenda by handing out flyers and remaining silent throughout the school day. Yet the school suspended this ninth-grader for expressing a different perspective during non-class time. This is unconstitutional treatment, plain and simple.”

On April 26 students at Midway High School were allowed to participate in the Day of Silence, an event promoted by the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network to promote the homosexual agenda, but Benjamin Arthurs was refused permission to wear his Day of Truth T-shirt on April 27 and distribute cards presenting a differing viewpoint on homosexual behavior.

The student and his family contacted ADF for assistance, and ADF sent a letter to school and district officials explaining how treating this student differently and suppressing his speech violated his constitutional rights under the First and 14th amendments.

Sampson County Board of Education Superintendent Stewart Hobbs responded that religious T-shirts would not be allowed and that no religious literature could be distributed because Arthurs would be “pushing his religion on others” and “religion is not allowed in school.”

“Apparently, religion is not allowed in Sampson County schools unless the belief system in question supports the homosexual agenda,” said Cortman. “Public schools are open to the public, and that includes Christian families, too, who pay taxes and have the right to send their children to public schools without facing viewpoint discrimination.”

A copy of the complaint in Arthurs v. Sampson County Board of Education can be read at www.telladf.org/UserDocs/ArthursComplaint.pdf.

ADF is a legal alliance defending the right to hear and speak the Truth through strategy, training, funding, and litigation.

[Commander8]

Number umpteen on the list reasons to homeschool.

[mtbopfuyn]

And number umpteen to state the obvious - not all public schools are bad, same as not all homeschools are good.

[AlaninSA]

Or private school. My kids attend Catholic school. We have not a bit of this type of thing in our school...and it's tied to our parish.

[Question_Assumptions]

Can we stop framing this as a debate about religion, religious freedom, tolerence, or freedom of speech and start framing it for what it is: people who want the freedom to promote their own political agenda, no matter how controversial, and want to silence people with a different political agenda or opinions they don't agree with. This isn't about freedom but about control. That's really all leftists really care about, anyway. All of these other issues are simply a smokescreen to hide the bottom line, which is that they are trying to indoctrinate school children with their opinions and squash parental control and student dissent and they only believe in tolerence of their own opinions and have zero tolerence for the opinions of others.

[darkangel82]

Disgusting, isn't it?
Ping.

[loboinok]

PING

[billbears]

NC bump

[roverman2K6]

This is right out of the Stalinist cook book.
Take control of the children to indoctrinate and turn in the parents. Nazis did a good job of this as well.

Good point, CONTROL, is what the leftys want and need, freedom is the last thing they want.

[Alia]

NC *Ping*

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[DBeers]

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[scripter]

Targeting Children, Part 1: How the gay movement intends to capture the next generation
Targeting Children, Part 2: How the homosexual movement uses public schools as instruments of change
Targeting Children, Part 3: Activists encouraging experimentation
Targeting Children, Part 4: Access to children: homosexuality and molestation

[TXBubba]

Very good point.

[Rca2000]

Also known as "The big plan".

[TASMANIANRED]

Sue them.

[IronJack]

“Public schools are open to the public, and that includes Christian families, too

Outrage! How DARE officials allow THOSE perverts into a public school! How can our glue-huffing, lip-piercing, tattoo-sporting, pink-haired lesbian dwarf cross-dressing children be protected from such ... depravity?!?!

[Das Outsider]

All of these other issues are simply a smokescreen to hide the bottom line, which is that they are trying to indoctrinate school children with their opinions and squash parental control and student dissent and they only believe in tolerence of their own opinions and have zero tolerence for the opinions of others.

Ah, but they believe in the superiority of their opinions and beliefs, so exclusion--the thinking goes--is a matter of separating truth from falsehood. The subjective is raised to the status of objective.

I seem to recall Ward Churchill saying something to the effect of, "We should teach opinions if they're right." Of course, in this Day of Silence case, we're dealing with more than mere opinion.

[Das Outsider]

Those who listen to Jay Sekulow daily were ready for this.

“Other students at the school were allowed to participate in the Day of Silence, showing their support for the homosexual agenda by handing out flyers and remaining silent throughout the school day. Yet the school suspended this ninth-grader for expressing a different perspective during non-class time. This is unconstitutional treatment, plain and simple.”

It is not only unconstitutional, but reeks of an institutional bias . The students that participated in GLSEN's Day of Silence were exempted from participating in school during class time. This ninth-grader that handed out flyers outside of class did so OUTSIDE OF CLASS so as to not violate the policy regarding disruption.

The ADF has a pretty good case, as far as I can see.

[dukeman]

I seem to recall Ward Churchill saying something to the effect of, "We should teach opinions if they're right."

Good grief! Did he really say that? It boggles the mind....

[dukeman]

I agree. The school administrator's statements, if accurate, are pretty dopey as well. You blow up words like that on a large poster board and wave them in front of a jury!