Gay student banned from wearing rainbow

[The Straight Story]

Gay student banned from wearing rainbow

(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.

http://www.365gay.com/news/gay-student-banned-from-wearing-rainbow/

[Critters2]

1. Someone needs to remind this school district's counsel of a little thing called

Tinker vs Des Moines.

[Why Syzygy]

2. hmm. I thought all schools prohibited freedom of expression.

:shrug:

[Critters2]

5. It's actually illegal for public schools to limit political expression.

Thanks to the students who brought suit against the Des Moines public schools in the 60's. Look up "Tinker vs Des Moines".

[Why Syzygy]

12. I read the wiki article.

Since then, there have been some cases ruled in a school's favor for certain freedom of speech rights.
I was under the impression that if they ban ALL political/social statements, it was not discrimination.
In Tinker, I'm sure they didn't have a broad rule at that time. They were making an exception just for the arm bands.

Since I'm not a student, don't know where, but seems like I've read dress codes prohibit tee shirts and such with any kind of message.

[Deja Q]

6. They should. On BOTH sides. No religious shirts. No heavy metal shirts. No logos or slogans.

The rainbow is a logo.

Kids are there to learn. They can teach whatever they want and provoke intelligent discourse and debate, but the distractions are unfair to everyone else in the classroom. I see no problem with neutral grey.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

9. Just make sure the neutral grey is colour fast.

[Hippo_Tron]

38. ROFLMAO best reference ever...

[Why Syzygy]

23. Guess it's a right of passage.

We fought against dress codes ages ago.

Dress codes, which tend to be similar at most public schools, are supposed to keep kids focused on their education, and most rules state that what students wear shouldn't be distracting, inappropriate or unsafe. The majority prohibit midriff-baring tops, skimpy skirts or shorts, revealing tops (front or back), droopy pants and clothing that advertises illegal items or is associated with gangs.

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2008/11/the_right_look_dress_codes_in.html

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

3. Is that the new paraphenalia gangs are wearing these days?

It's so hard to keep up.

[XemaSab]

4. And yet if it was a straight kid wearing it to be ironic or derogatory

somehow I don't think the school would have a problem with it. :eyes:

[Deja Q]

7. Ah, but wasn't there an outcry from the religious reich because a kid wore a hetero marriage shirt?

The stick figures of one man and one woman? The school ordered him home too...

I'll spend an hour on google if I really must because I remember the article strongly enough to think it was real, but when one side does something political, the other gets riled up. Both sides are guilty of riling when not being riled up. It seems logical to have a uniform dress code; none of these arguments would then be a problem.


(or was it a slogan like 'heterosexual pride', which I just saw while searching because I want to prove the greater point of both sides nitpicking such frivolity as being true...)

[Lost in CT]

16. Are you kidding most schools would be down on him like a ton of bricks...

Oh course when I went to school we still had our freedom but kids today are more sheltered and less mature. (Sarcasm there)

[Goblinmonger]

35. Not true

We have kids turn their shirts inside out for any level of sexual or controlled substance reference. There are many times that I am the first teacher to tell them to do so at the end of the day for such winners that went unnoticed as:

Nice package (7 up t-shirt)
Just doob it (with the Nike logo in smoke)
Camel Towing (admittedly I chuckled a little when I saw it)
Fiscally conservative. Sexually liberated.

At my school at least, a shirt such as you describe would not be allowed.

[Lost in CT]

8. If a straight kid wore a shirt saying "rainbows are gay" should the school allow it?

He wasn't banned from wearing a rainbow... he was banned from making a homophobic statement... the fact he has declared himself gay doesn't make the statement any less homophobic.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

10. Oh, absolutely.

In exactly the same way calling George Bush a chimp was racist.

[Lost in CT]

13. For the love of Shub-Niggurath it's a school...

They have to pretend everyone is equal and the only way to do that is to ban any form of self expression or achievement.

I'm sure the 14 year old is pushing boundries... that is what 14 year olds do.... And in principle I think the school is full of shit...

If it was a Rainbow thingie by itself I would be 100% on the boys side... but as soon as you introduce a dubious potentially homophobic message I think the school, out of tolerance, has to come down hard...

It's like that white boy who wanted to wear an Obama mask... he clearly wasn't a racist... but we have to many sensitive people to take the risk.

On Edit misspelled shit.

[demwing]

25. How is "Rainbows are Gay" Homophobic?

???

[Lost in CT]

30. Saying anything is "gay" can be translated as homophobic...

Gay is an sexual orientation nothing more... identifying objects as gay tends to be non-inclusive of those homosexuals that do not fit easily into stereotypes (non-effeminate males for example)... while that may be acceptable for adult conversation (such as this board) such discriminatory narrowcasting is inappropriate for a school setting.

[demwing]

31. I agree with Petronius in post 21

It seems like the teen, a self professed homosexual, was just trying to reclaim the word. If his wrist band had said "I am gay" would that be homophobic?

[Goblinmonger]

33. I supported the decision downthread

but if the band had said "I am gay" I would not have a problem with it. The real slogan sounds too much like a derogatory term used by teens now and the disruption it would/could cause isn't worth the time it would to teach kids what it really means and it would possibly reinforce that language in those that don't get it and don't talk about it. "I am gay" does not have that problem.

[Lost in CT]

40. No but it didn't say that.... nt

[4lbs]

11. So, then they need to also ban all these purity rings and such.

n/t

[Why Syzygy]

14. The rings don't carry a motto.

At least when my son was in school they didn't.

[4lbs]

15. It doesn't matter. Since the school wants to ban freedom of expression, they should ban it in all

forms. Purity rings are an "expression".

[Why Syzygy]

22. They would have to ban all "jewelry".

There's no way to tell what it is "expressing". It looks like an ordinary band ring.

[4lbs]

24. True. Follow the slippery slope all the way down. Ban everything.

That includes banning those Obama "HOPE" T-shirts.

Since the school wants to ban a form of expression that isn't hurting anyone, they should go the full mile.

[TheCoxwain]

17. How can a 14 year old know if he is gay ? He should be studying rather than thinking about sex

[Lost in CT]

18. Oh boy

:popcorn:

[Name removed]

19. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Name removed]

20. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Starry Messenger]

26. I hope you are joking.

:shrug:

[MrSlayer]

28. LOL!

All a 14 year old boy thinks about is sex. You've got to be joking.

[originalpckelly]

29. I knew walking home from middle school, when I was like 12 or something.

It's the same way that straight people feel about the opposite sex at that time.

I remember thinking, "Hey, liking other guys is gay. I guess...I'm OMG! I'm a gay!"

It was a total out of body experience just realizing that I was a tad different. Of course, I had been very gay all along, just that I didn't realize until that moment that I was.

Only when in high school did I ever think I liked girls, but that was just a phase.

[bullwinkle428]

32. Was this meant to be ironic?

[Zhade]

37. Um, BEING GAY IS NOT JUST ABOUT SEX.

Trust me, we know we're different verrrrry early on.

[ruggerson]

39. You can say it till you're blue in the face

it doesn't get through.

[petronius]

21. Are they banning the rainbow or the wording?

Calling things "gay" as a slur is pretty common among kids - it seems as though he was trying to reclaim the word/phrase, but I can understand the school deciding to ignore the nuance and prohibit that particular use of the word 'gay' for all kids to avoid claims of unfair treatment (for example, what if it was a straight kid proclaiming that rainbows are gay?).

I'd side with the school here, and I doubt he has a case, but if the school was to ban rainbows in general, or pink triangles, or equality symbols, then I think there would be a problem...

[Goblinmonger]

27. In get the concept of reclamation

but I do my best when I hear students use the term gay to let them know that it is problematic, why it is so, and that they should use different vocab options to express dislike. Being that is the case, I see the problem with this from a school point of view. The SCOTUS allows school to control those things that are disruptive. They didn't say the rainbow, a symbol for gay movements, was bad but the slogan using the term gay, in a way that could be seen as insulting, was the problem.

[steelmania75]

34. This is terrible.

[Mike 03]

36. Despicable.

As a resident of AZ I am sickened by this story.

Time to donate to the ACLU. Every time I see a story like this I'm either going to give as much as I can spare to the ACLU or Lambda legal.