Subscribe to Breaking News
Loading ...Supreme Court declines anti-gay student case
02.23.2009 1:35pm EST
(Washington) The Supreme Court said Monday that it would not take the case of a Kentucky high school student who wants to sue his school district over a policy that allegedly barred him from expressing opposition to homosexuality.
The justices did not comment in denying the appeal of Timothy Morrison, who alleges he was harmed by the policy of the Boyd County Board of Education.The federal appeals court in Cincinnati ruled last year that Morrison failed to show how he was harmed by the policy and tossed out the lawsuit. The ruling was a reversal of a previous ruling that held Morrison should be allowed to pursue the lawsuit.
Morrison, a senior at Boyd County High School, sued the Boyd County school district over a policy that required students to undergo anti-harassment training. He claimed the policy threatened him with punishment for expressing religious beliefs in opposition to homosexuality. Morrison is a professed Christian who believes his religion requires him to speak out against what he sees as behavior that doesn’t comport with his understanding of Christian morality.
Morrison was never punished under the policy, which was later changed to exempt speech that would normally be protected off campus.
The school district adopted the policy and established the anti-harassment training as part of a 2004 legal settlement that ended a lawsuit between the school district and a now-defunct gay-rights group that wanted recognition as an extracurricular group.
Members of the Boyd County High School Gay Straight Alliance argued that the school district violated their constitutional rights by refusing to allow them to meet on campus.
Morrison was represented by the conservative Alliance Defense Fund.
Pastor Dak: Would you please explain all of that to the KY legislature and our US representatives as well? It’s obvious that such a notion has never crossed their minds.
As an ordained Christian minister, I have good news for the GLBT young people in Kentucky and the whole world. None of you are going to hell because you are gay or straight or anything in between. That has been covered with full forgiveness of sins (if indeed being gay is considered a sin…I think not).
What we ALL will have to explain is how and why we treated each other with such utter disdain, as children of God. Now that, I believe, is going to be the deciding factor. What could we have done as people of God to rectify these situations…and failed to do.
Just some food for thought!
And best wishes to the GSA of the Kentucky and all school systems!
Pastor Dak!
WOW! I can’t believe the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Conservative Cincinnati did this. Great job Judges for protecting people first. People can believe what they want as long as it doesn’t encroach on my rights and freedoms! That’s the beauty of the United States Constitution.
The only problem with this article is the fact that gays are just looking for their right to be who they are without putting their lives on the line. The people who are against gays can be against them all they want but they tend to get overly enthusiastic about their position. The group that is against gays may not have been allowed to meet on campus because of the threat they may have posed to gays.
What a piece of work this monster truly is, and I bet he harrassed lesbian and gay students on a regular basis. If the Christian belief is true, this Morrison kid’s going to hell.
what a [freaking] dumb [jerk]. he’s going straight to hell, him and his [freaking] beliefs.
@Neil: No, not speech that would be allowed off-campus—speech that would be PROTECTED off-campus. Big difference there.
OMG! They’ve changed the rule to exempts speech that would normally be allowed off campus?! Now every intersection in the school hallway will have a homeless student with a sign begging for money!
What happened to love thy neighbor and minding your own business? Most of the devout Christians I know don’t needle their way into my affairs. Good lord.
So this kid won’t attend a anti-harrasment class that not harassing homosexuals. So by his protest (and logic) and by not attnending he wants to reserve his right to harass them? Despite the class isn’t about accepting someone’s lifestyle by ignoring his personal faith? I’m going to guess either Pentecostal or Baptist here.
Josh: I’m in Kentucky also. Pity our regressive legislature encourages this kind of crap every chance they get! Send these damn little bigots to a christian school.
I am happy this was thrown out. Religion should not even be practiced in a public school. If you want free speech protest in the street not at your school. People are crazy. This would not even fly out here in NY. Especially because we protest all the time for gay marriage!!!
Well if the kid’s argument were accepted as valid, then it would open the door to religious warfare in the public school system. Students could justify things like anti-semitism by arguing that they’re just “expressing their religious beliefs”. Heck, potentially even racism could be justified using the tenets of some denominations! Talk about a slippery slope towards letting the kids rule the school!
As a fellow Kentuckian living in a small’er’ religious county who was the first openly gay male at my High School, I’m glad this was tossed out.
I come from a High School which refused to address any of the concerns I had for my safety after receiving death threats, physical and verbal assaults on school property, etc. It’s nice to know not all counties in KY are following suit of Scott County.
Oh those acitivist judges.,..got it right again!