Dec 22 2007
Student Mad About Covering Up Lesbian Shirt
As usual, the ACLU is wrong…
A high school official made a mistake by telling a student to cover up a lesbian-themed T-shirt or face suspension, the school’s principal said Friday, a day after the ACLU demanded the school apologize to the teen.
Bethany Laccone, 17, said she was asked to cloak a logo of two interlocked female symbols while attending a hotel management class this month at I.C. Norcom High School in Portsmouth. She’s a senior at nearby Woodrow Wilson High School, where she has not faced a similar ultimatum.
In a letter sent Thursday, the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia asked Norcom administrators to remove any mention of the incident from Laccone’s records and agree not to similarly censor other students.
ACLU leaders want administrators to clarify that students can express political views. The school’s dress code prohibits “bawdy, salacious or sexually suggestive messages.”
The ACLU gave the school until Jan. 11 to respond or possibly face further action.
Schools have a right to set their own dress code for any reason they want with any standards they want. The ACLU should stick to what it does best; smiting all references to God from the sight of impressionable people.
December 22nd, 2007 at 2:44 pm
What a joke. Fricken ACLU…
December 22nd, 2007 at 5:29 pm
Schools have a right to set their own dress code for any reason they want with any standards they want.
Unless there’s been a newer case that has overruled it, the Supreme Court case of Tinker vs. Des Moines says they don’t. I’m also assuming this was a public school.
December 24th, 2007 at 6:32 pm
Here’s the conundrum though: There was a school recently that had a “gays are great” day or something, and some students came to school wearing shirts displaying Bible verses and “light” anti-gay references in opposition to the “celebrate diversity” days.
I don’t recall the outcome but I remember it making the media for the “intolerance” aspect of what these kids did.
I say this as a gay guy - acceptance goes both ways. Of course I am cool with people wearing gay symbols, but if someone wants to wear a shirt opposing my lifestyle I can’t do much about it, so long as it’s not initiating violence or just outright bigoted. If I wear an “Adam loves Adam” t-shirt or something to class, my classmate might show up in a “I live 2 Corinthians” shirt.
p.s. the teacher should known that gays populate the hotel management industry and just teach the damn class rather than playing fashion police.