Well, what a good day to be at school. - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

iwrock · #1 04-27-2006, 12:24 PM

This happened at my high school yesterday. People that had decided to trickle on campus were escorted off by the popo's and such. When the bell rang to go home, I was like a bat outta hell!

GAY RIGHTS FACE OFF!

Students at Mira Loma High School on Wednesday conduct an after-school protest of the Day of Silence, a student-run effort to promote tolerance and highlight the struggles of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students. Christian students at other area high schools also demonstrated against homosexuality. Sacramento Bee/Lezlie Sterling

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The national debate over gay rights became a divisive force on Sacramento-area school campuses this week, as religious Christian students wore T-shirts expressing their disapproval of homosexuality as others participated in a Day of Silence to honor gay and lesbian peers.

Thirteen students at Oakmont High School in Roseville were suspended Tuesday when they refused to take off T-shirts that declared: "Homosexuality is sin." The students hired a lawyer who appealed 12 of the suspensions to the district Wednesday.

Other schools in the region have disciplined students in recent weeks for refusing to remove T-shirts condemning homosexuality. Two students at Mira Loma High School said they were sent home Wednesday, and one student was suspended this month at San Juan High School.

Anna Choban, the 16-year-old sophomore at San Juan, said she refused to take off her shirt because she wanted to stand strong in her beliefs. "I want other people to know the truth," she said.

The T-shirts, students say, are a form of protest against the national Day of Silence, a student-run effort to promote tolerance and highlight the struggles of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students. About 500,000 students participated nationally, organizers said, staying quiet all day and often handing out cards to explain their actions.

The Oakmont High students haven't yet filed a complaint in court. But if their attorney does, they will accelerate a debate that began with the first Day of Silence in 1996.

They also may test a controversial ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last week.

In a 2-1 vote, the court decided schools can forbid students from wearing a shirt that demeans gay and lesbian students. At the heart of the case was a Poway High School student in San Diego who wore a T-shirt calling homosexuality "shameful."

Gay and lesbian students "have the right to 'be secure and be let alone,'" wrote Judge Stephen Reinhardt, referencing a seminal 1969 case, Tinker v. Des Moines. In that case, students in an Iowa school district were suspended after they wore black armbands to school to protest the Vietnam War.

The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the students, stating that schools could restrict student expression only when it "materially disrupts classwork or involves substantial disorder or invasion of the rights of others."

Reinhardt wrote that the Poway High student's T-shirt "was injurious to gay and lesbian students and interfered with their right to learn."

In a section of the ruling that drew sharp dissent from Judge Alex Kozinski and has troubled even legal scholars who support gay rights, Reinhardt wrote that the decision is limited to speech that "strikes at a core identifying characteristic of students on the basis of their membership in a minority group."

Tobias Barrington Wolff, a law professor at UC Davis, said that stipulation is problematic.

"I'm troubled by the notion that a student could perhaps come into school wearing a T-shirt that says Christian fundamentalism is shameful, and that might be OK, whereas a student wearing a 'Homosexuality is shameful' shirt is subject to discipline or suspension," he said.

School administrators around the region said Wednesday they weren't familiar with the 9th Circuit ruling and hadn't used it as a basis for disciplining students.

"We celebrate the multicultural nature of our school, and an anti-gay or anti-lesbian T-shirt we don't find particularly tolerant," said San Juan High Principal Dave Terwilliger.

But the court's ruling last week was among the reasons Christian groups protested this year's Day of Silence, said Luke Otterstad, a member of the Church of the Divide, an activist Christian church of about 20 members in Garden Valley.

Otterstad organized a protest at Oakmont High Wednesday morning, denouncing the suspensions as "fascist censorship of religious speech."

He also was among more than 100 protesters outside Mira Loma Wednesday afternoon. One carried a sign that read: "One nation under God, not the 9th Circuit."

The 9th Circuit ruling came just before the Sacramento City Unified School District's approval last week of a resolution acknowledging the Day of Silence.

"It's all been building up to this," Otterstad said. "People are getting sick of it."

Kevin Snider, chief counsel at the conservative Pacific Justice Institute, represents 12 of the suspended students at Oakmont High.

He said the 9th Circuit decision doesn't consider state law, which he argues grants students broader First Amendment protections than federal law does.

Kathleen Sirovy, principal of Oakmont High, said about 20 students arrived at school Tuesday wearing T-shirts denouncing homosexuality and proclaiming "Jesus can set you free."

She said they were told that their shirts violated the dress code because they targeted a specific group of people. She also was concerned that the shirts were causing a disruption on campus.

"Many kids were upset because their shirts were rude," she said.

Administrators gave students a choice to take the shirts off or face a one-day suspension. Thirteen accepted the suspension.

Sirovy also suspended a student for wearing a shirt bearing an anti-Christian message.

Despite the ruckus at some schools, most Sacramento-area campuses were calm Wednesday, according to principals, school district officials and gay rights groups.

Religious students on many campuses will observe a national Day of Truth today - an event sponsored by the Alliance Defense Fund to counter the Day of Silence.

At Folsom High School Wednesday, expressions for and against the Day of Silence peacefully co-existed, said student Lance Chih, co-chair of the Sacramento Regional Gay Straight Alliance. Many students wore rainbow arm bands and Day of Silence shirts, while a few students wore T-shirts stating homosexuality is a sin, he said.

Chih wasn't bothered by the open expression of homophobic messages, he said, because they weren't violent or vulgar.

"If they're stating their own belief that homosexuality is wrong, that's not promoting hate or violence against us," said Chih, 18. "If I want to promote my civil rights, I can't tell another group of students that they can't do it."

http://bulletin.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=bulletin.read&messageID=841202098&Mytoken=147B86D4-1495-1339-8A1F1194136E07AB17374307

http://bulletin.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=bulletin.read&messageID=840657624&Mytoken=15ABA025-F9B9-F047-5653FCA8F908392617496776

Those last two, you can go to the page and look at the pics.

This is totally not cool at all, especially in an academic enviroment.

koop · #2 04-27-2006, 12:51 PM

Can't we all just get along?

I've never really understood demonstrations against gays. Has any gay guy ever said "you know, I really like hairy man ass but now that you have pointed out that it's a sin I better rethink my position"

My all time favorite protest was when the anti abortion protesters picketed Disney World on gay day. Man, talk about fishing in the wrong pond.

And just to be fair and balanced, can we all approve of the choice of method of protest by the pro gay crowd. "oh, you are going to be silent today? I'm good with that"

kerry · #3 04-27-2006, 01:00 PM

"a member of the Church of the Divide"

Can't think of a more aptly named church.

Angel · #4 04-27-2006, 01:40 PM

If you are in High school, is it really an academic environment - the students are minors - not adults yet.

I have no problem with the HS banning christian T-shirts that single out groups - but if the t-shirt disrupts the learning environment - then the HS should be able to keep it out of the classroom - reguardless of the wearer's 1st amendment rights. The christians just need to be smarter...

Are children/minors/infants(?) guaranteed 1st amendment rights ? Yes or no, and if no, then apply the oppression fairly (until they turn 18 and are "free")

Props to you Justin for thinking wisely- when bad sh** is flying around you- dont stick around to see who gets hit.

-John

iwrock · #5 04-27-2006, 02:34 PM

They are here again today. The school has put out a bulletin to say away from this, and not to provoke them. I am going to try and avoid al of htis crap once again.