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Loading ...Gay student banned from wearing rainbow
03.18.2009 5:02pm EDT
(Peoria, Arizona) A 14-year-old Peoria student says he was ordered by a principal to turn his rainbow wristband inside-out or stop wearing it to school.
The cloth wristband has words “Rainbows are gay” on it.Chris Quintanilla says it is the latest in several anti-gay experiences he has had at the school. After nothing was done, his mother went to the American Civil Liberties Union.
In a letter sent this week to Peoria Unified School District, the ACLU said that the principal violated Quintanilla’s constitutional rights, pointing to a 40-year-old landmark Supreme Court decision guaranteeing students’ free speech and expression.
“When I asked my son’s principal why he wouldn’t be allowed to wear his wristband to school anymore, he said some teachers found it offensive,” said Natali Quintanilla, mother of the eighth grader.
“My son is honest and happy about who he is, and I love him and support his right to be himself. There are a lot of things teachers should be more concerned about than one little wristband – like educating our children.”
Quintanilla said that her son was harassed for being gay earlier this school year. When she asked to the principal to do something to prevent the harassment she said she was told “If he didn’t put it out there the way he does, he wouldn’t have much of a problem.”
The Supreme Court has held that students have a right to free speech at school, and that includes gay students.
” The ACLU has won dozens of cases over the years where schools have tried to get away with illegal censorship,” said Elizabeth Gill, staff attorney for the ACLU national Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Project. “A handful of teachers supposedly working themselves into a tizzy over one little wristband is hardly an excuse for violating Chris Quintanilla’s right to free speech.”
The ACLU letter refers to 1969’s U.S. Supreme Court decision in which the Court wrote, “It can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights… at the schoolhouse gate.”
The letter also pointed to a Florida case in which a high school principal had attempted to ban rainbows at school. In that case, a federal judge ruled last May that the school had violated students’ First Amendment rights.
“When schools censor students like this, they are failing one of the most important civics lessons there is,” said Dan Pochoda, Legal Director of the ACLU of Arizona. “Schools should respect the Constitution and encourage all students – lesbian, gay, bisexual, and straight – to appreciate and exercise their freedoms, rather than illegally trying to silence them.”
The ACLU has given the school ten days to respond to its letter. The school has yet to respond.
Same thing happened to me two years ago. I went to a Catholic All Girls’ school (in Canada too…) and I had a little ribbon, rainbow in LGBT support, discreetly pined to my shirt and was asked to remove it. When I said “If I had been wearing a pink one, for breast cancer or a red one for AIDS surely you would have left me alone”, they gave me detention -_-
The story of Mr. Quintanilla’s wristband has hit the news and really caught my attention. I am now a 27 year old gay artist, but I once too was a scared junior high student trying to fit in. I only wish Mr. Quintanilla had an educator and community leader to look up to and be proud of like I did. I went to a junior high school called Rio Bravo Greely and my favorite teacher, (still a close friend to this day), was Dr. James Merrik. You see Dr. Merrik lost his family, job, and reputation for just finally admitting who he was and living his life and ended up all over every cable news station and talk show having to defend a good life of hard work from jack asses like this administrator. He set the example to fight way back then and I thought that becoming a gay artist and using my talent to fight against injustice was a step forward. I can see by this article that I was gravely mistaken in thinking that we have moved forward at all. Here we are a generation later suffering without heroes to teach us to be proud of who we are. You administrators at this school have taken the easy road and caved to the wants of the many to take the civil rights of the minority away and that is the most dangerous lesson we can teach today’s youth. Someday I hope you will question your judgment on this decision and realize that maybe you should have lost your jobs because you fought for someones rights, not because you took them away.
“Rainbows are gay” is meant as an ironic statement. It disempowers ‘gay’ as ’stupid’ because it makes you think, “Oh wait, rainbows ARE a symbol for being gay.” Then you remember that yes, calling someone ‘gay’ as in ’stupid’ IS an attack on gay men and women. A friend of mine used to wear a glittery sequined shirt that said, “Homosexuals are gay.” Best shirt ever.
well said Julia!
It is ok for them to wear other wristbands but when it comes to him wearing a pro- gay one it is a totaly different matter
The priniciple is absolutely out of order and should be fired!!!
If you are going to be a principle of a school than respect every person!
I am very pleased to hear that his mother is supporting him and he is open about himself being gay!
if teachers have a problem with it then quit!
It wasn’t too long ago that teenagers were wearing wristbands with the letters WWJD. Were any of them censored?
The middle school is in the city of Peoria, Arizona. Which is a suburb of Phoenix. The name of the school is Parkridge Elementary
Here is a link to the actual letter:
http://www.aclu.org/pdfs/lgbt/schoolsyouth/az_armb_letter.pdf
The school principal’s email address is:
DSvorinic@peoriaud.k12.az.us
Come on 365gay.com newscenter staff, get with the program!
Josh Elder….PLS, offensive slogan??..where is your head…the boy likes it, Mom is OK with it, the school is wrong, and I like it and I’m 65 yrs old…pls, Josh, get a life!
This is 2009 ,for God sake! This “principal” needs to get with the program.
I remember crap like this going on,when I was in High School,but that was in the 70’s. I thought we had progressed,as a society,at least a little,since then.
I,too,give this young man and his mom,a lot of credit for standing up to this idiot.If kids can wear t-shirts with logos on them,what’s the problem with a wrist band,with a logo on it?
We do not know the name of the school or the principal, because the writer did not tell us. This is public information and it’s incredibly sloppy journalism.
He’s in the 8th grade? When I was in the 8th grade, I was hiding under my desk in fear…what would happen if anyone found out that I was gay. Times sure have changed. I really admire that young guy.
I applaud this young man for having the guts to wear a “pro-gay” item! Seems that the younger generation is not buying into the “stay-in-the-closet crap!
Also, thanks to his mother for supporting him! Seems that she’s really with it!
“My son is honest and happy about who he is, and I love him and support his right to be himself. There are a lot of things teachers should be more concerned about than one little wristband – like educating our children.”
What a loving mother this student has- you go girl! Fight for your son’s rights.
Rainbows are an historic gay pride symbol. This is CLEARLY a pro-gay statement NOT an anti-gay statement. No out and affirming gay kid is going to wear an “anti-gay” band – duh!
While I agree he has a right to wear it, what company seriously thought that slogan wouldn’t be offensive? They’re perpetuating the use of the word ‘gay’ as a synonym for ’stupid’.
When I first read this article, I thought it was an anti-gay wristband. I don’t see how it’s pro-gay in the least or why the kid, since he’s gay, is wearing it. But even if it were meant as anti-gay, he has every right to wear it.