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=> the NEW democracy, freedom, you name it...

the NEW democracy, freedom, you name it...

Posted by parhad (Guest) - Thursday, November 25 2004, 22:39:16 (CET) from 63.237.171.122 - 63-237-171-122.calinet.com Commercial - Windows XP - Internet Explorer Website: Website title:

...it's new and "improved"... November 24th, 2004 4:37 pm Battle on Gay Pride Shirts Leads to Suit Against School ...our resident asshole...who's gone AWOL, would call this part of the agenda of the ACLU...that's code for, "they want us all to be Fags". The agenda of the ACLU is to uphold the Constitution in those instances where average citizens don't have the money to defend their rights in court...after all, the whole point of our special democracy was that it would not simply be a tyranny of the majority...and so the ACLU will step in..to defend the Constitution for all of us...NOT to defend an individual per se...they've defended everyone across the spectrum...the rest of us are grateful to know someone is protecting our blessed Constitution...the others despise the Constitution and blame it for allowing Queer and Black transgenders moving into our neighborhoods and schools and being open about who they are. Who in god's name is MORE vulgar than your basic Hetero male filled with beer? By Tamar Lewin / New York Times The American Civil Liberties Union filed suit yesterday against a Missouri high school that twice admonished a gay student for wearing T-shirts bearing gay pride messages. The suit charges that the school violated the youth's constitutional right to free expression. By the account of the civil liberties union, the student, Brad Mathewson, a 16-year-old junior, was sent to the principal's office at Webb City High School on Oct. 20 for wearing a T-shirt that he said came from the Gay-Straight Alliance at a school he previously attended, in Fayetteville, Ark. The shirt bore a pink triangle and the words "Make a Difference!" Mr. Mathewson, the A.C.L.U. said, was told to turn the shirt inside out or go home and change. Instead he traded shirts with a friend, who wore the gay pride shirt the rest of the day without incident. A week later, Mr. Mathewson was again admonished for wearing a gay pride T-shirt, this one featuring a rainbow and the inscription "I'm gay and I'm proud." Told once more to turn the shirt instead out or leave, he chose to go home and was eventually ordered not to return to school wearing clothing supporting gay rights. School officials said yesterday that they could not comment on the situation, or confirm or deny the A.C.L.U. account. "At this point, with the legal situation, there's just nothing we're going to say," said Stephen P. Gollhofer, the principal. Mr. Mathewson began attending the school, outside Joplin, in September. In a statement issued by the civil liberties union, he said: "The school lets other students wear antigay T-shirts, and I understand that they have a right to do that. I just want the same right. I think tolerating each other's differences is a key part in teaching students how to become good citizens." Since the confrontations involving Mr. Mathewson, school officials have asked students to remove antigay stickers and T-shirts, local news accounts said. Mr. Mathewson and his mother, Marion, held a news conference yesterday announcing the lawsuit. In a telephone interview, Ms. Mathewson said: "All he wants is to wear his T-shirts. He's a typical teenager, so he's angry that they're trying to tell him what he can and can't do. We had a meeting at the school to talk about it, but we didn't get anywhere with them. They talked, I listened, and I got more and more mad. At the end I just took him home with me." Dick Kurtenbach, executive director of the A.C.L.U. of Kansas and Western Missouri, wrote to the school on Oct. 28, citing a 1969 ruling by the Supreme Court that students have a constitutional right to free speech except where school officials can demonstrate that it would "materially and substantially interfere with the requirements of appropriate discipline in the operation of the school." Such an exception does not apply in Mr. Mathewson's case, the letter said, since he had previously worn the Gay-Straight Alliance T-shirt to school several times without causing any disruption. The A.C.L.U. said the school had not responded to the letter. Its lawsuit, filed in federal court in Kansas City, Mo., seeks an injunction that would bar the school from censoring Mr. Mathewson's speech. --------------------- - BACK TO INDEX - REPLY - QUOTE - EDIT - DELETE -

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