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California Students Win Right to Wear Pro-Marriage T-shirts to School
LifeSite ^ | August 17, 2005

Posted on 08/17/2005 6:10:25 PM PDT by NYer

ROHNERT PARK, CA, August 17, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Students in a northern California city recently won the right to wear pro-marriage t-shirts after school officials were warned against restricting their free speech.

Tired of the constant barrage of messages contrary to their beliefs, student members of the Conservative Club at a high school in Rohnert Park decided to express their own traditional values for a change. Working with staff attorneys at Pacific Justice Institute, as well as PJI affiliate attorney Bill Trask, the students selected a t-shirt message which clearly stated the students’ support for traditional marriage, including a quote from the Bible, in a manner which was respectful, non-threatening and legally defensible.

Since the students had been threatened by school officials with suspension if they wore t-shirts expressing their values, PJI sent a letter to school officials explaining the students’ First Amendment rights to wear expressive clothing. The letter cited numerous cases which have specifically upheld students’ rights to wear expressive apparel, including Tinker v. Des Moines, a landmark 1969 U.S. Supreme Court decision which declared, “Any word spoken, in class, in the lunchroom, or on the campus, that deviates from the view of another person may start an argument or cause a disturbance. But our Constitution says we must take this risk, and our history says it is this sort of hazardous freedom—this kind of openness—that is the basis of our national strength.”

After PJI sent the letter on behalf of these students, school officials abandoned their position and made no further attempts to discipline students for exercising their rights. The students were therefore allowed to wear their pro-marriage t-shirts for the remainder of the school year.

Brad Dacus, president of Pacific Justice Institute, commented, “As we begin another school year, it’s important to remember that students and teachers do not shed their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse gates. Our youth have open doors to express their faith—through their clothing, in school assignments, and in after-school activities to name but a few. We’re excited as we look ahead to another great year of defending religious freedom in our educational institutions.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Extended News; Government; News/Current Events; Philosophy; Politics/Elections; US: California
KEYWORDS: fasttrack; homosexualagenda; publicschool; tshirt
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1 posted on 08/17/2005 6:10:25 PM PDT by NYer
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To: NYer

"Win" the right? They always HAD the right to do so. But it got TAKEN AWAY by bureaucrats.


2 posted on 08/17/2005 6:12:35 PM PDT by Kevin OMalley (No, not Freeper#95235, Freeper #1165: Charter member, What Was My Login Club.)
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To: NYer

So, what do the shirts say?


3 posted on 08/17/2005 6:14:20 PM PDT by Tax-chick (Officially around the bend, at least for now.)
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To: Tax-chick; All

I'm curious, too.


4 posted on 08/17/2005 6:15:30 PM PDT by Irish Rose (Don't make Me come down there. ---God)
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To: NYer
the students had been threatened by school officials with suspension if they wore t-shirts expressing their values,

Amazing, simply amazing.

5 posted on 08/17/2005 6:17:04 PM PDT by Michael.SF. ('That was the gift the president gave us, the gift of happiness, of being together,' Cindy Sheehan")
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To: NYer

I got so bent out of shape that I forgot to push my usual plug for ways to fast track kids through high school to avoid the liberal agenda and other idiocies:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1315730/posts?page=84#84

Unfortunately my thread title was not well thought out, because some parents might instinctively skip over it due to attached stigma, whether real or imagined.


6 posted on 08/17/2005 6:19:38 PM PDT by Kevin OMalley (No, not Freeper#95235, Freeper #1165: Charter member, What Was My Login Club.)
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To: NYer

There's a "Conservative Club" at a California high school??? There may be hope for us yet.


7 posted on 08/17/2005 6:21:01 PM PDT by Past Your Eyes (Some people are too stupid to be ashamed.)
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To: Irish Rose

Hmmm... I have one that says "Adam and Eve, NOT Adam and Steve". Homemade, of course, but it's a possibility.


8 posted on 08/17/2005 6:22:58 PM PDT by RedBeaconNY (Vous parlez trop, mais vous ne dites rien.)
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To: RedBeaconNY
respectful, non-threatening and legally defensible

I don't think your suggestion would be considered "respectful."

9 posted on 08/17/2005 6:26:09 PM PDT by Tax-chick (Officially around the bend, at least for now.)
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To: Past Your Eyes
There's a "Conservative Club" at a California high school???

"Who'd a thunk..."

10 posted on 08/17/2005 6:26:45 PM PDT by CommandoFrank (Peer into the depths of hell and you will find the face of Islam...)
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To: Michael.SF.

It is amazing how far the far-left counterculture has come in just 40 yrs or so. And its even more depressing and disheartening that it has come about largely through undemocratic means -- bureaucracy and judicial activism -- because it makes it seem almost unstoppable.


11 posted on 08/17/2005 6:29:16 PM PDT by Aetius
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To: NYer
"...the students had been threatened by school officials with suspension if they wore t-shirts expressing their values,..."

...that differed from those values of the school administrators.

Acceptable are:
Gay Pride
I Love My Vagina
Kill Bush
Peace not War
No Blood for Oil
Black Power
MeCHA
Malcon X
Islam Rules
The Right is Wrong
I Had An Abortion
Stop Global Warming
12 posted on 08/17/2005 6:32:31 PM PDT by hophead (" Shi'ite happens..")
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To: Tax-chick
"So, what do the shirts say? "

Yeah Riiiiiggghhht!

13 posted on 08/17/2005 6:32:59 PM PDT by endthematrix ("an ominous vacancy"...I mean, JOHN ROBERTS now fills this space!)
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To: NYer

Can you believe they would actually write this article and leave out the very heart of the matter (The slogan on the shirts?)


14 posted on 08/17/2005 6:37:16 PM PDT by msnimje
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To: Aetius
because it makes it seem almost unstoppable.

Amen to all you said!

I would also add:

undemocratic means -- bureaucracy, judicial activism, and a willing media.

15 posted on 08/17/2005 6:37:44 PM PDT by Michael.SF. ('That was the gift the president gave us, the gift of happiness, of being together,' Cindy Sheehan")
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To: NYer
On second thought, I think maybe they have not decided on a Slogan yet but were waiting for permission to print them first.
This would make sense considering they are a CONSERVATIVE Club.
16 posted on 08/17/2005 6:40:45 PM PDT by msnimje
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To: endthematrix

Dive by zero not defined.


17 posted on 08/17/2005 6:41:12 PM PDT by Paladin2 (Don't Tread on Me; Live Free or Die)
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To: Paladin2

Dive --> Divide


18 posted on 08/17/2005 6:41:49 PM PDT by Paladin2 (Don't Tread on Me; Live Free or Die)
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To: Tax-chick
I do tend to run into that problem...

How about a nice biblical reference. 1 Corinthans 11:11 sounds nice...

Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord.

Or maybe 1 Corinthians 7:2...

Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.

Now I suppose we must define 'wife' and 'husband'. (These are per dictionary.com)

Wife: A woman joined to a man in marriage; a female spouse.

Husband: A man joined to a woman in marriage; a male spouse.

Waitaminute... better define 'fornication' too, just in case.

Fornication: Sexual intercourse between partners who are not married to each other. (Note it's updated to be PC)

That is pro-marriage. In the anti-homosexuality ring, we have Leviticus 18:22.

Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.

Now, given the patriarchal society in which the Old Testament was written, we can assume that the Bible is addresing a male. Here we learn that Man + Man = Abomination. 'Abomination' is the most powerful word to describe an abhorrence in the Bible. Tough Stuff. The conclusion: Homosexuality is wrong. Perverse. Immoral.

And so we come to the conclusion that Man + Woman = Good and Man + Man = Not Good. So maybe I'll throw some of this stuff on my next shirt.

19 posted on 08/17/2005 6:46:36 PM PDT by RedBeaconNY (Vous parlez trop, mais vous ne dites rien.)
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To: hophead

Speaking of that... everybody loves Che Guevara too. My friends named their pet gecko Che.


20 posted on 08/17/2005 6:47:42 PM PDT by RedBeaconNY (Vous parlez trop, mais vous ne dites rien.)
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