Appeals Court Allows High School Student to Wear Anti-Gay T-Shirt
A federal appeals court has ruled that a suburban Chicago high school student may wear an anti-gay T-shirt to school.
The Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted a preliminary injunction allowing the student to wear the shirt to protest a day of silence that promotes tolerance of gays, the Chicago Tribune reports. The T-shirt reads: “Be Happy, Not Gay.”
Judge Richard Posner wrote the opinion (PDF), issued Wednesday. He wrote that the T-shirt’s slogan is “only tepidly negative” and the school has failed to justify its ban under a policy banning derogatory or demeaning comments. The student claims a First Amendment right to wear the T-shirt.
The Alliance Defense Fund, which supports Christian causes, had filed the lawsuit on behalf of student Alexander Nuxoll. The fund’s senior counsel, Nate Kellum, said Nuxoll plans to wear the T-shirt on Monday. “Public school officials cannot censor a message expressing one viewpoint on homosexual behavior and then at the same time allow messages that express another viewpoint,” Kellum told the Tribune.
The ACLU had also supported the student in an amicus brief.
