Discussion for article #240402
S.C. High School Student Suspended For’Nobody Knows I’m A Lesbian’ T-Shirt
I predict:
Everyone now knows.
Briana will receive an apology (or possibly a monetary award post-lawsuit).
The dress code will be updated.
jw1
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Maybe the school’s administrators thought the shirt read, “Nobody Knows I’m a Lebanese” and due to their mistrust of Muslins, suspended her.
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Any message on any shirt can be “distracting.” I would like to see what kind of messages on shirts have not been deemed “distracting” by school administrators. How about “Fuck Muslims”? Is that OK to wear? Or perhaps even encouraged? “Nobody knows I’m Born Again” or “Black Lives Matter” shirts?
Schools are there to teach. What better topic to teach about than the subject of this student’s shirt, an integral part of life? When schools get in the business of regulating speech, they are not teaching. They are censoring.
Welp, the Section 1983 lawsuit and settlement should help pay for college at least…
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A well-written rule there–“deemed distracting”. Really lets the students know in advance what is OK and what is not.
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I’m glad that my daughter’s high school stopped caring about the dress code. Of all the dumb reasons to prevent kids from learning, forcing them to stay in the office until their parents come with a longer pair of shorts is one of the worst. And yes, I’ve had to do that before.
This makes sense - I drive past this school every day on my way to and from work, and this year, the school had up on it’s message board - and I’m not kidding here - “Have a Good Spring Braek”! When I called them about the error, the lady who answered the phone didn’t sound the least bit embarrassed by it; saying “Well, we were doing to change the message out next week anyway”.
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- yes
- unlikely
- no
I say this, because the courts give a lot of leeway to schools who have rules or actions that restrict student freedoms. I do see an opening for an apology, because the district official accidentally let his/her real thoughts escape and used the word “offensive” instead of a word (like “disruptive”) that is part of the dress code.
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Reminds me of the old days when older people than myself at the time would tell me that they didnt know what was obscene but would know it when they saw it…lol…With this line of reasoning any student wearing a shirt proclaiming the Dallas Cowboys (insert your team here) the best would be distracting to students who preferred the New York Giants (insert your team)…slippery slope there by the school bordering on free speech suppression.
My kid’s middle school has a similar dress code. Don’t wear gang colors. Don’t wear pants in a way we can see your underwear. Don’t wear distracting clothes.
As for the lesbian thing, I’m sure either folks already knew or thought so.
I agree. While I was one of those who wore uniforms to school, I think it is counterproductive (and appears very subjective and hypocritical) to focus on appearances. We live in a world that is multi-cultural and complicated, and trying to homogenize young people just doesn’t work.
Was just about to write that. Pretty clearly protected speech, even under the weakened standard applied to students. Tinker is still good law, and it’s pretty much exactly on point.
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The Bible-Thumpers secret “not in the Student Handbook” dress-code strikes again.
These people need to get laid.
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Petty Bureaucrat 101: whenever some arbitrary and capricious application of a vague regulation due to what are clearly improper motives catches the public’s attention, double down, bunker up and admit no mistakes.
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Why aren’t the Oath Keepers here to protect the lowly school administration’s rights which are clearly being trampled on by one mild-mannered lesbian high school girl wearing a shirt that would get zero males in trouble for wearing the same thing? This is an outrage!
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I’m curious. Has any student worn a CSA Battle Flag since school started? Were they disciplined, sent home, ignored?
Actually, you did not have to wear that t-shirt to tell everybody that you are a lesbian. Most people don’t really care what your sexual preference is, but you feel compelled to tell everybody. Why you feel the need to tell everyone is beyond me. I don’t see straight people running around saying, “Look at me I’m straight.”
Obviously, you have a psychological need for attention.
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Why should anyone mistrust Muslins? It’s those cotton-polyester blends that are prohibited by the Bible.
Hah. She should come back and wear a T-shirt that says, “Island of Lesbos” or “Friend of Sappho” and then see what they say.
Btw…(from Wikipedia):
In 2008, a group of Lesbos islanders lost a court case against the Gay and Lesbian community of Greece. The Lesbos islander group had requested a legal injunction to ban groups from using the word “lesbian” in their names, which the petitioners claim violated their human rights as it is “insulting” and disgraces them around the world.