Missouri: School Allows Anti-Gay Speech, but not Gay Pride Speech
The ACLU explains:
[Brad] Mathewson was sent to the principal’s office by his homeroom teacher on October 20 after she spotted his t-shirt. The shirt bears the name of the Gay-Straight Alliance at his old high school in Fayetteville, Arkansas (FHS Gay-Straight Alliance), a pink triangle, and the words, "Make a Difference!" When an assistant principal saw it, he told Mathewson to go home and change shirts because someone might be offended by it. Although Mathewson pointed out the anti-gay marriage stickers seen throughout the school, his concerns were ignored. Mathewson was again disciplined when he came to school on October 27 wearing a t-shirt featuring a rainbow and the phrase, "I’m gay and I’m proud."
"Even though nobody complained about my t-shirts, my school told me I couldn’t wear them just because someone might get offended," said Mathewson, a junior at Webb City High School. "But every day I see students at my school with anti-gay stickers on their notebooks and sometimes on their shirts, and I find that offensive. I understand that they have a right to express what they think, but I have a right to do the same thing." Mathewson and his mother met with school officials yesterday morning to express their concerns about the censorship. In the meeting, two assistant principals and the principal told Mathewson that they wouldn’t allow him to wear shirts bearing gay pride messages because they feared it would cause controversy.
School officials don't care if anyone is offended by anti-gay messages, but they do care if people are offended by messages that support gay rights. That is practically the very definition of censorship — censorship that is specifically designed to benefit anti-gay positions while hindering gay rights positions. The government isn't allowed to do this and the school officials should know better.
The best face that could be put on this is that the school officials do know that they are acting unconstitutionally but are afraid to do the right thing because of the possibility of community backlash. Thus, perhaps they are letting the ACLU become the bad guys and have the backlash be directed towards them rather than towards people who have to live in the community.
That would be understandable, but it's also cowardly. If they know what the right and legal thing is, they should do it despite the possible problems. That is their duty as officers of the state. If they can't do what they know to be the right and legal thing because they are afraid, they should step aside in favor of people who can do the right thing.
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