UPDATE: SC HS suspends student for wearing "Nobody knows I'm a lesbian" T-shirt

[shira]

Last year i went to vegas and bought my kid a Tee- shirt from Jimmy Buffets restaurant that had a picture of a cabana and a margarita with the words Margarita-Ville. He wore it to school (10th grade) and He was told to turn it inside out or to call us to take him home. He asked why and the principal told him that the shirt is promoting alcohol use.....

The school was out of line. The problem is that most people aren't willing to fight back, so schools give in to the lowest common denominator: No messages about sex or sexuality; no messages about unhealthy habits; no politically "intolerant" messages. It's outrageous.

Unfortunately, this is what most people want. People complain all the time about "PC" speech. But they're the first ones to complain if speech THEY don't like is allowed. So, for example, conservatives get upset if speech expressing "insensitivity" towards various groups is suppressed, but they're the first to complain if "pro-gay," pro-drug-use, "anti-Christian," or openly-sexual messages are allowed.

So everyone's speech ends up getting restricted.

 

[PokerGuy]

Please... Someone may find your post offensive.

University of California May Codify Right to Not Be Offended: Intolerant of intolerance



Just a caution that once their new policy is approved, the UC universities have promised to "respond promptly and effectively" to any report of intolerant behavior...

Free speech? How quaint!

Uno

A good example of what happens when you let the disease that is liberal political correctness progress without treatment. It's a cancer that ultimately kills the host unless the cancer cells are destroyed.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Minors have free speech rights? Since when?

 

[shira]

Minors have free speech rights? Since when?

Ever since the phrase "except for little people" was removed from the 1st Amendment.

 

[Brainonska511]

Minors have free speech rights? Since when?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinker_v._Des_Moines_Independent_Community_School_District

 

[Fingolfin269]

By the time one person reads that shirt it's a lie.

 

[Londo_Jowo]

It's obvious many in this thread do not have children that are Junior or Senior high school students. In most schools the student handbook/code of conduct lists what clothing is considered inappropriate and the actions for dealing with any violations. Both the student and parents are to read the policy and sign a form acknowledging such which is held in the student's file at school. My youngest is a Senior this year and he says they're as strict as even when it comes to people wearing anything that is listed as being inappropriate.

My grandson is in the 1st grade and all elementary (1st - 5th) schools in the district have dress codes (Red, white, or blue polo shirts with black, navy blue, or khaki docker style pants/short/skirts and plain sneaker/docksiders). There's been talk that this policy will be extended to classes 6th - 12th next year.

 

[shira]

It's obvious many in this thread do not have children that are Junior or Senior high school students. In most schools the student handbook/code of conduct lists what clothing is considered inappropriate and the actions for dealing with any violations. Both the student and parents are to read the policy and sign a form acknowledging such which is held in the student's file at school. My youngest is a Senior this year and he says they're as strict as even when it comes to people wearing anything that is listed as being inappropriate.

My grandson is in the 1st grade and all elementary (1st - 5th) schools in the district have dress codes (Red, white, or blue polo shirts with black, navy blue, or khaki docker style pants/short/skirts and plain sneaker/docksiders). There's been talk that this policy will be extended to classes 6th - 12th next year.

A school can create any type of handbook it wants. That doesn't make those policies Constitutional (dress codes, however, I don't know about, one way or the other). (And even if dress codes pass muster, I don't see how a school can Constitutionally prevent a student from wearing a button having a "message" of some sort.) Forcing parents to sign an acknowledgment form doesn't change anything.

 

[sourceninja]

...

 

[shira]

Except we limit their free speech all the time for their own 'protection'.

Example, a 13 year old boy can not take a dick pic of himself. Even if he sends it to no one, he can still be charged with possession and creation of child pornography.

If you're saying the no rights are absolute, you won't get any argument from me. For example, clearly the right to own firearms for self-defense purposes, which was created by the SCOTUS only a few years ago, doesn't extend to minors and doesn't include the right to own missiles, bombs, and other weapons that are particularly destructive. Speech is also restricted is various situations (advocating that people break the law, threatening the President, etc.). But that doesn't mean that minors don't have free-speech rights, including the right to make "unpopular" statements at school.

 

[Londo_Jowo]

A school can create any type of handbook it wants. That doesn't make those policies Constitutional (dress codes, however, I don't know about, one way or the other). (And even if dress codes pass muster, I don't see how a school can Constitutionally prevent a student from wearing a button having a "message" of some sort.) Forcing parents to sign an acknowledgment form doesn't change anything.

Who said anything about being constitutional? Schools throughout the US can and do control the attire worn at school by students and parents alike. I've seen parents turned away from school sponsored sporting events for wearing inappropriate attire.

 

[shira]

Who said anything about being constitutional? Schools throughout the US can and do control the attire worn at school by students and parents alike. I've seen parents turned away from school sponsored sporting events for wearing inappropriate attire.

Unfortunately, rights continually have to be fought for. Parents who feel strongly enough about it need to take the schools to court. Also unfortunately, those who make principled fights for rights end up being very unpopular, because most people seem to believe that (for example) "free speech" means the freedom to say things that most other people agree with.

 

[Londo_Jowo]

Unfortunately, rights continually have to be fought for. Parents who feel strongly enough about it need to take the schools to court. Also unfortunately, those who make principled fights for rights end up being very unpopular, because most people seem to believe that (for example) "free speech" means the freedom to say things that most other people agree with.

We see this occur in this forum and others like it every day, for that matter we see it throughout all aspects of media including social media. If their expression of free speech possibly hurts someone's feelings their social media accounts are shut down. People have lost their jobs from expressing their freedom of speech on social media.

 

[shira]

We see this occur in this forum and others like it every day, for that matter we see it throughout all aspects of media including social media. If their expression of free speech possibly hurts someone's feelings their social media accounts are shut down. People have lost their jobs from expressing their freedom of speech on social media.

Saying what you believe in doesn't protect you from private or social sanctions. But public schools are one of the faces of government, and sanctions have no place there unless a student is clearly being "disruptive."

Yes, yes, that's a rather subjective standard. But there have been a number of court decisions rendered that schools and students can reference.

 

[jhbball]

Last year i went to vegas and bought my kid a Tee- shirt from Jimmy Buffets restaurant that had a picture of a cabana and a margarita with the words Margarita-Ville. He wore it to school (10th grade) and He was told to turn it inside out or to call us to take him home. He asked why and the principal told him that the shirt is promoting alcohol use.....

This is more of a fashion crime, than anything else.

 

[Brovane]

It's obvious many in this thread do not have children that are Junior or Senior high school students. In most schools the student handbook/code of conduct lists what clothing is considered inappropriate and the actions for dealing with any violations. Both the student and parents are to read the policy and sign a form acknowledging such which is held in the student's file at school. My youngest is a Senior this year and he says they're as strict as even when it comes to people wearing anything that is listed as being inappropriate.

My grandson is in the 1st grade and all elementary (1st - 5th) schools in the district have dress codes (Red, white, or blue polo shirts with black, navy blue, or khaki docker style pants/short/skirts and plain sneaker/docksiders). There's been talk that this policy will be extended to classes 6th - 12th next year.

I don't have a problem with a list of what is appropriate and not-appropriate. The challenge I have is with the catch-all phrase of being disruptive. Which can basically just about mean, anything the administration disagrees with.

 

[shira]

An update to this incident:

I blogged yesterday about a South Carolina high school girl who was suspended for wearing a T-shirt saying “Nobody knows I’m a lesbian.” The school had defended its decision to order the girl to change the T-shirt on the grounds that the T-shirt was “offensive and distracting”; I noted that such student speech couldn’t be restricted unless there was a showing that it materially disrupted the functioning of the school. U.S. News & World Report (Steven Nelson) has an update:

Popour’s punishment was reversed after it became a national news story, Spartanburg School District 2 spokeswoman Rhonda Henderson tells U.S. News.

“The dress code disciplinary decision you inquired about was overturned,” she says, “when administration realized that although the shirt was offensive and distracting to some adults in the building, the students were paying it little attention.”

That really captures the matter well, doesn’t it?

 

[MomentsofSanity]

An update to this incident:

Won't somebody thing of the Chil..... errr wait what?

 

[Theb]

An update to this incident:

That's hilarious.

 

[werepossum]

An update to this incident:

So . . . the adults were so busy being offended and distracted that they never noticed that the students were not offended and distracted? :biggrin: