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 School Wins Another Round In Ongoing Anti-Gay
T-Shirt Case
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: January 25, 2007 - 11:00 am ET
(San Diego, California) A federal court has
ruled that a Southern California school had the power to suspend a student for
wearing a T-shirt denouncing homosexuality.
Tyler Chase Harper was kicked him out of class at
Poway High School in 2004 for not removing the homemade T-shirt that said on the
front "Be ashamed, our school embraced what God has condemned," and on
the back "Homosexuality is shameful".
The teen wore the shirt on the National Day of
Silence in 2004.
Harper, with the help of the Alliance Defense
Fund sued the school and sought an injunction barring Poway from refusing to
allow students to wear clothing with a political or social message.
U.S. District Judge John A. Houston in his ruling
cited a ruling last April by the Ninth Circuit that found Poway Unified School
District had not violated Harper's First Amendment rights.
The Ninth Circuit panel addressed only the narrow
issue of whether the dress code should be unenforced pending the outcome of the
student's First Amendment suit. That part of the case as appealed to the US
Supreme Court which will hear arguments next month.
Houston was hearing the First Amendment
applications of the lawsuit.
Houston said that Harper's case had become moot
because he has graduated from Poway, but agreed to hear it because Harper's
sister is still a student at the school and shared his views on gays.
The school district argued that the issue was not
one of free speech but of protecting the safety of students at Poway. The
district noted that the year prior to the Harper incident the campus was
disrupted by protests and conflicts between students over the Day of Silence.
Judge Houston's ruling agreed with the school's
with that assessment that the issue was one of protecting students.
Lawyers for the Harper family say they will
appeal. Ultimately that aspect of the case may also reach the Supreme Court.
©365Gay.com 2007
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