Student banned from wearing T-shirt which says, 'All the cool girls are lesbians.'

The ACLU has lost their path.

Indeed, Juan.

Really, no wonder the ACLU has lost all credibility~wonder how much tax $$ they still rake in?!!?

oh geez,, I so glad I live in a town that respect those around them.. Just today Omaha sign a historical act in the city council.. An amendment to expand legal protections to gay and transgender residents passed 4-3 Tuesday.
this is good.. meansone can say or wear what ever one wants to and will be protective..

???

My kids have had uniforms and also dress codes. I have no issue with it, unless a school tells you where you have to buy the uniform. We ran in to that problem....and I have an issue with paying over $30 for a polo shirt for my 6 yr old.

Now the dress code was good....navy or khaki pants and blue, grey, or white polo shirt. We could buy any of the pieces anywhere....didn't matter what brand. The girls could have navy or khaki skirts or pants and a pink polo was also added to the other colors. Pher had this for about 6 years. I'd buy the polos at Target when they went on clearance for around $2 each.

"The principal says it is not the message but the disruptive nature of the sexual message."

Maybe that was her coming out day :)

they would make kids cover up shirts that had quotes from the bible so it is no different.

Lol, you are right Pamela. The ACLU has come in to fight discrimination against Christians lately, to my surprise. I guess it proves how bad it is getting when even the ACLU sees it! I say put a dress code, amounting to uniforms, and let it go... Make everyone as close as possible to even. Let people turn in their unneeded clothes for those who cannot, or will not help their kids meet the provisions.

Right. Like they do in China. Ahhhhhhhh! :)

Don't you just get sick of listening to all the laws. What did people do when they were first settling and had no guidance?

Oh I am going to rant later about my kids school times 2 oh boy are they ont he wrong nerve today. They will be lucky if my husband doesn't show up on Monday to have a little talk

Hi Pamela. I've been gone a couple of days.
So did you rant? :) Did you do a post?

I worry about the power of the teacher & principals becoming more and more centered on themselves and their power (Not all of them. There are so many good ones.) and their convenience. Not like it used to be when they appreciated the fact that WE were paying their salaries.

Yes I still owe a rant will get to it I have pain in my back and chest was on the phone several times today with the school, my kids are starting a petition and taking tons of photos in class. My daughter was sent down to the office for having her book bag in class while other students who were in the class were not, and even after being on the phone with them this morning they did it again and when she pointed out the kids they still were not sent down, all this trouble while in her classroom there are drug deals going down right in front of her...oh and the dealers don't have book bags so they don't get in trouble. just a shorty on what is going on. the kids only have 2 minutes between every class and their school is huge.

she has had her bag with her all year and they pick the end of the year to give a problem over it. they told me it was suggested by the police that they have the no book bag rule in class, and then they told my daughter if kids have book bags in school the will lose their insurance. Which is it?

We have over a hundred photos already of the halls, classrooms, and statements from kids who have carried their bags with them every day and have not been sent down to the office. If my husband gets involved believe me the police, news, and papers will be involved.

If someone wants to get guns, knives, or drugs into the school they don't need a book bag, purse, sport bag, or other bag to get it there.

now you have me going.

Ha! :) Love your appreciation of your own space and that of your kids. Someone has to keep an eye on it or many people in most schools can slide right in with their plan for your child's way of thinking.
I wonder if it really is a rule and most teachers don't bother to honor it. Nevertheless, if they allow children in some rooms to carry it ... it should be open to all.

one of her friends gave her a big purse and they are now leaving her alone yet the Assistant Principle said that as long as it had books in it, they would not be allowed either. He saw her with it and said oh you found a new purse. the thing is just as big if not bigger then her back pack was, just doesn't make any sense at all.

so let me try to get this clear in my little pea brain........

they teach about being lgbt in 6th grade ..... they almost promote it, but not quite .........

they would practically crucify a kid for wearing a t-shirt with a message that was ANTI lbgt ...... and yet still admonish them for a t-shirt that is PRO lgbt .........

hmmmmmm

in other schools - kids are disciplined for a flag on their bike, or their shirt ............. as well as for having anti-illegal slogans .............

cant wear a shirt with a pro gun logo on it ...............

yuppers -sounds to me like uniforms are the only answer - tho i foresee problems there.

what if the uniform includes a green color and it is claimed to be pro-irish, and therefore anti non whites?

what if is is blue, demonstrating a proclivity to wasps?

what if it has yellow, being a mocking asians? or red, making fun of american natives? surely there can be no black white or browns ...............

purple might be taken as statement about those with oxygen problems and therefore any and all with an ailment ......

i know - have them all show up nude - whatcha think?

we solved it

It certainly makes a statement Del :) Yuk. You'd never want to sit in anyone else's chair.

true glome lol - maybe make em all carry a towel to sit on? no wait - back to the same logo/color problem - dang it!

Note that it doesn't matter to the ACLU what the message is. The ACLU objects to this as a restriction of freedom of speech. The school's justification for its action is unwarranted in my opinion. It should have been a good teaching moment for the school that even unpopular sentiments should be allowable in public speech. The school missed that chance. Instead, the school's message is "if you don't like what the other person says, raise a stink to get them stopped."

Did you speak for those with John 3:16 shirts, Larry? Just asking.

I speak only for myself. No one has made me their spokesmman. I express my opinions and read the opinions of others. They are mine and mine alone.

I am just asking if you agree those who want to wear religious symbols or clothing with verses are equally entitled?

Char,

So far as I can tell, wearing religious symbols or clothing with verses from some religious word is definitely protected under the free speech provision of the Bill of Rights. The practice is also protected under the freedom of religion provision of the Bill of Rights. Therefore, it is supported in two ways, not just one.

Therefore, I agree completely that those who want to wear religious symbols or clothing with verses are entitled to do so in school, and in other public locations. This applies to all religions.

"Did you speak for those with John 3:16 shirts, Larry? Just asking."

Char, I try to keep up with these sorts of cases, but maybe this one slipped past me. Can you tell me a little more about this case? Students were stopped from wearing John 3:16 shirts to a public school?

"I am just asking if you agree those who want to wear religious symbols or clothing with verses are equally entitled?"

I agree that students who want to wear religious symbols or clothing with religious messages are equally entitled, and so does the ACLU. The same standards should apply, regardless of the content of the expression.

That case in Florida a couple of years ago, when Christian students were banned from wearing those "Islam is of the devil" shirts comes to mind.

Wil, And, wasn't the ban upheld? I tried to look it up. Looks like they banned them, and declared all schools subject to sensor. Sad decision. part of going to school is to socialize for tolerance, to my mind. Poor things if they can't learn to realize not everybody will think like them, and still manage to function without causing a scene. The stupid words on a shirt should really not be able to disrupt a classroom. the students should be able to handle it.

Char,

Excellent points. It was a very sad (and I think cowardly) decision.

"Wil, And, wasn't the ban upheld? I tried to look it up. Looks like they banned them, and declared all schools subject to sensor. "

If you mean the case involving the "Islam is of the devil" shirts, the ACLU took the school to court, but the school switched the dress code to uniforms, so the judge ruled their claim moot.

I agree that it was a cowardly way out, but they knew they were going to lose, so they chose to limit the expression of all the students rather than allow the expression they didn't like or agree with.

If you're talking about this instance that involved John 3:16 shirts that you mentioned earlier, I have no idea because I've never heard of that one.

Actually, a hypothetical. Thanks Wil. So, they (the students) re-appealed the case, but then were changed to uniforms? It was upheld at district, though? See what they did? Deliberately left the precedent at disallowing it.

I don't see anything wrong with having a rule that you cannot deliberately slam anyone. That's just learning to be civil. There is no reason why a school should be forced to let children be uncivil in an atmosphere that has declared to be responsible for helping children learn civility and student interaction.
Of course that word is open to variance and someone might try to push it too far. Standard would have to be set.
I did let my children wear Christian T shirts to school but I would never have let them wear "Atheists are dumb or ugly etc. I wouldn't let them smear another religion.
I think they should require decency between the children. Maybe I'm wrong ... Nah! :)
(Sorry) Had to delete & repost as I hadn't added n't to my last 'hadn't.

Glome,

Excellent points. I approve your positions and your upbringing of your children.

Yaaaa! Thanks POM. You probably agree, but I would say they crossed the line if the police approached someone for a racist or off color shirt.

Glome,

It is reasonable to me for a school to ban verbal (written or oral) attacks on groups or individuals. As you say, that's just learning to be civil. But the police have no business enforcing such a ban unless there is imminent danger of civil unrest. (As in things getting tense at a basketball game between supporters of the two teams.)

I agree that uniforms would curtail a lot of the problems in schools, enhancing more equality among the students.

I think uniforms would solve the problem

I know it's not the same, but I picture all different countries making everybody look just alike and I don't like it. However, I was raised a Catholic and went to Catholic schools and wore my uniforms with joy :)

I remember when I went to school, if a shirt didn't have pockets on it, it was considered "underwear" and banned, ha. There was a dress code, but no uniforms etc. Much also had to do with cliques and gangs where I went to school too.
My daughter was caught up in this issue once because of a shirt she had with a "Jolly Roger" flag in the design. A pirate theme shirt I think had to do with that movie with Johnny Depp, Pirates of the Caribbean? The school related it to gang signs or along that line... not that they thought she was in a gang necessarily, but a member of an opposing gang may think so and do harm, bully, etc. as well. Given the shirt design I remember thinking that was a stretch, but hey...

unfortunately, they had already allowed "straight" messages on T-shirts -- so they must allow these

While school uniforms might be a possible solution, another possible solution would be if teachers and administrators were familiar with the law, and tried harder to make sure they didn't violate it.

In this case, it seems that a little education helped the school officials understand that the teacher was wrong, and that ordering the student not to wear the shirt was a violation of both the First Amendment and Massachusetts state law. There's going to be a "refresher course" for school personnel to help them understand how student expression is protected by law, so hopefully similar incidents won't happen in the future.

And I think that sort of approach is much more likely to be successful than attempting to stifle all individual student expression by requiring them to wear uniforms.

I couldn't find that result! The case outcome I found upheld the ban on the shirts. Was that overturned?

As I understand it (reading the ACLU of Massachusetts website), the letter they sent was enough to get the school to back down. I think they understand now that "All the cool girls are lesbians" shirts, and others that may be considered "political", "offensive", "controversial", etc. are still legally-protected expression.

When I was in law school many moons ago a classmate wore a T-shirt that had a pic of Shakespeare with words that read, KILL ALL LAWYERS. Don't think she could get away that today.

I s there no common sense? It's a joke, folks....