Posted on 10/28/2006 5:34:47 AM PDT by radar101
Lawyers for a former Poway High School student who was pulled out of class for wearing an anti-gay T-shirt have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review an early ruling in the case.
Papers filed yesterday by the Alliance Defense Fund urged the court to take up an April ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which said high school administrators were justified when they removed Tyler Chase Harper from class.
In 2004, Harper, then a sophomore, wore a shirt on which he wrote, “I will not accept what God has condemned,” and on the back, “Homosexuality is shameful 'Romans 1:27.' ” The incident occurred during a day set aside by a student group to promote tolerance of gays and lesbians.
School officials said the shirt was offensive, could have led to disruptions at school and violated the school's dress code. Harper has sued the district saying his free speech rights were violated. The case is still pending in San Diego federal court.
Meanwhile, his lawyers had asked U.S. District Court Judge John A. Houston to issue an injunction preventing the school from enforcing its dress code while the case proceeded. Houston ruled against Harper on the issue.
That ruling was upheld by the federal appeals court in April, which wrote that school districts could ban speech that is “demeaning” to core characteristics of other students, said Tim Chandler, a lawyer with the Alliance Defense Fund, which is representing Harper. The organization is a national pro-Christian legal group.
“The 9th Circuit carved out a new category of protected speech,” Chandler said, “That has the potential to transform what schools across the country can do with their speech codes.”
Jack Sleeth, a lawyer for the Poway district, disagreed. He said the appeals court decision followed the law set out under previous Supreme Court decisions regarding student speech.
Sleeth said the request to review the ruling is premature, and the high court might wait for the entire case to work its way to them.
I wonder if he would be treated the same way if his shirt said
"I will not accept that Rosie O'Donnell wants to take away my 2nd amendment rights" and on the back "Owning a gun is a fundamental right"
My bet is nothing would happen
We need a stronger majority in Senate.
"My free speech is not the same as your free speech" ALERT
Seems to me that the kid can "tolerate" the homosexuals in the school, but they can't "tolerate" his opinion.
Without school uniforms, kids should be able to wear whatever the heck they want.
We need a stronger majority in Senate.
I have been saying this since last year, but FREEPERS have completely ignored me on this and are THRILLED that we are ONLY going to lose 3-4 seats this year....strangest thing I have ever heard. I gave up trying to understand their thinking.
I see. But gay day at the school was not offensive and would not have led to disruptions.
I agree. And if a teacher or the principal finds the clothing offensive or disruptive to the work environment (a reminder: they ARE there to learn), the student will be sent home to change.
This would be excellent training for the real world work environment where exactly the same thing would happen.
Apparently, in this school,being a Christian isn't tolerated.
Or, to rephrase, offending Christians in this school is tolerated. Offending gays is not.
That's why I want uniforms.
free speech is only for lib/dems...anyone else it is a hate crime!!!!!
free speech per the 9th circus is beginning to be more and more akin to a bastardized version of orwell's newspeak!!!!
I DO NOT Believe that (I am a Christian), but that is the attitude of many leftists, academics, teachers, and liberal elitists. I suspect that tee-shirt would be allowed at this school.
And apparently it is also not tolerated by the 9th Disctrict Court of Appeals.
I can just imagine what would happen if students requested a tolerate Christians day.
How so? The student is free to practice his beliefs, his faith is not persecuted nor singled out. The wording of the T-shirt is a borderline threat to cause disruption. Given the day he chose to wear it, he was clearly saying it is impossible for him to accept certain other students. It's tantamount to intimidation of peers.
There should be either uniforms (certainly appropriate for younger than high school) or a restrictive dress code that would prohibit slogans of any sort, for example.
Romans 1:27 in context of that chapter on idolatry is saying they had developed same-sex lust as a manifesting dishonour to their bodies to match their spiritual dishonour to God. Rather than having children (the natural order) they had become 'corrupted' at the spirit level and God "gave them over" to homosexual acts.
Is it really a blanket condemnation of homosexuality or homosexual acts or more akin to criminals turning to homosexual activitys in prison to satisfy their lust?
Show me which part of this is a "borderline threat".
It's a public school. You can't have a day like that since it would be tantamount to the State endorsing a religious faith.
Supposed they could have such a day, it would be chaotic: from the Westboro Baptists to Roman Catholics to Eastern Orthodox to the Watch Tower folks to Mormons and beyond.
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