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(Howell, Michigan) A gay slur painted on the
sidewalk in front of Howell High so angered four students they got white paint
and covered up the hateful remarks. Then, they painted the word love on a
rock outside the main entrance to the school.
The students said the hate message was aimed at a
fellow student who is gay and they wanted to come to his defense.
A teacher watched as the students removed the
slur from the walk and then painted their own message on the rock, and went to
the principal.
The four were suspended.
School administrators say they did not expel the
four for getting rid of the hate message, but for putting their own graffiti on
school property.
The students say they were simply making a statement against
discrimination.
Nevertheless, they will send the rest of the week
at home.
The affair resulted in about 375 students staging
a protest on Tuesday. They skipped class and demonstrated in front of the
school.
Principal Margaret Hamill said
that she empathized with their position, but that the school
was only following disciplinary procedures outlined in the
code of conduct.
"Although that (the word
'love') is a beautiful message? instead of using sidewalk
chalk that we could wash out, they used spray-paint,"
Hamill said.
But demonstrators at the
four-hour sit-in said they believed the suspensions were too
strict.
"Writing ‘love' doesn't
sound malicious to me," senior Angel Alcorn told the
Howell newspaper. "The punishment given to these kids is
beyond harsh. It's excessive. We just want the school to pay
attention to us."
Hamill said that the school
also has begun an investigation into who painted the anti-gay
message.
Over the winter, some students
and community members criticized the Howell High School
Diversity Club's use of a rainbow-colored flag, which they
said was a symbol of gay pride and inappropriate for the
school.
The school is considering how to punish the four students in addition to the
suspension. Officials say whatever the penalty the four students will be able to graduate.
©365Gay.com 2005
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