I was just checking the ACLU's press release concerning the announcement this week that Webb City High School junior LaStaysha Myers is dropping her First Amendment lawsuit against R-7 school officials.
A portion of the news release reads, "After months of negotiation, Webb City High School recently informed Myers that it would no longer illegally censor her for wearing t-shirts bearing gay-supportive messages."
I am not privy to the exact words that Webb City school officials used, but I guarantee you not one of them ever said they had been illegally censoring Ms. Myers. I doubt if the word illegal came up even once (at least not from the school district's side).
School officials continue to maintain that they did nothing wrong. As I have written before, I am a bit conflicted. I would prefer that students not wear anything that has writing on it unless it is the school's name or nickname, but with fashions the way they are these days, unless you go to school uniforms that is never going to happen.
I am a still bit perplexed by Webb City school officials' claim that students were allowed to wear t-shirts with gay pride messages until they began creating problems. That claim was made during the Myers lawsuit, but I can't recall any mention in school officials' response in the initial lawsuit brought by Brad Mathewson saying that he had ever been allowed to wear shirts with gay pride messages.
Correct me if I am wrong (and someone always does), but this appeared to me to be a case of revisionist history designed to bolster the school district's legal position.
1 comment:
All I know is that wearing a Tshirt like that in SW MO is like wearing a sign that says, "Beat me up please". I thought it that the school district was right and that the children where making a fuss, just becasue they could. Children need to be taught that there is such a thing as authority and whether you like it or not, everyone has to do thing they don't like.
What if on your job, everyone was told to wear a suit and tie and then someone dicided it was against his rights to have to wear a suit and tie and started wearing tshirts, shorts and flip-flops top work. I guarantee they would be fired.
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