Court Rules Unanimously: Illinois School Must Allow "Be Happy, Not Gay" T-shirt

LifeSiteNews ^ | 4/24/08 | LifeSiteNews

[wagglebee]

CHICAGO, April 24, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit reversed a lower court's ruling against an Illinois student Wednesday, saying the district court must order a Naperville high school to suspend its ban on a T-shirt that reads "Be Happy, Not Gay" while the student's lawsuit proceeds.  School officials prohibited student Alex Nuxoll, who is represented by Alliance Defense Fund attorneys, from wearing the clothing.

"Christian students shouldn't be discriminated against for expressing their beliefs," said ADF Senior Counsel Nate Kellum. "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.  The court's ruling is a victory for all students seeking to protect their First Amendment rights on a school campus."

Nuxoll, a student at Neuqua Valley High School, desires to express his perspective at various times throughout the year, including the next school day after the "Day of Silence."  Other students at the school are permitted to wear shirts with messages supporting homosexual behavior as part of the "Day of Silence," which is sponsored by the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network.  The 7th Circuit ruling prevents school officials from singling out Nuxoll's message for censorship.

ADF attorneys appealed to the 7th Circuit after the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, refused to stop school officials from silencing Nuxoll while the lawsuit proceeds (http://www.telladf.org/news/story.aspx?cid=4349).  ADF attorneys had originally filed the lawsuit on behalf of another student, Heidi Zamecnik.

In its opinion, the 7th Circuit stated that "people do not have a legal right to prevent criticism of their beliefs or for that matter their way of life."  The court also said the school district does not appear to be justified in suppressing Nuxoll's message on the grounds it might provoke "incidents of harassment."

"It is highly speculative that allowing the plaintiff to wear a T-shirt that says 'Be Happy, Not Gay' would have even a slight tendency to provoke such incidents, or for that matter to poison the educational atmosphere," the court wrote.

The full text of the opinion issued by the 7th Circuit in Nuxoll v. Indian Prairie School District #204 Board of Education granting the motion for preliminary injunction requested by ADF attorneys is available at http://www.telladf.org/UserDocs/NuxollPIWin.pdf ;

[wagglebee]

"It is highly speculative that allowing the plaintiff to wear a T-shirt that says 'Be Happy, Not Gay' would have even a slight tendency to provoke such incidents, or for that matter to poison the educational atmosphere," the court wrote.

The only thing that "poisons" ANYBODY is the homosexual agenda.

[wagglebee]

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[wagglebee]

Education Ping

[Comparative Advantage]

This ruling will stir up a hornets nest for publik edukation and its pro-sodomy agenda.

[Repeal 16-17]

Another victory for Freedom of Speech. Any government official who attempts to censor a citizen is a fascist.

[maine-iac7]

Kudos to this young trail blazer - hope he is ultimately successful

In the meantime, we should all be painting and wearing T-Shirts = from now until the end, whatever that may be.

I also have a visor cap that I painted Typical White Person" on - so I always have one or both the wear.

I get about 95+ thumbs-up reaction - but it's fun to watch the glowering scowls of the libRats. One actually said, pointing at my hat: "That's racist!"

I smiled and replied: "Yes. Wasn't it though."

He stomped off in a huff.

What fun.

It's something we should keep in the public eye - don't let them forget

[HoosierHawk]

In its opinion, the 7th Circuit stated that "people do not have a legal right to prevent criticism of their beliefs or for that matter their way of life."

It took the 7th District Court of Appeals to issue such a common sense statement. Born and raised in Illinois, I'm embarrassed for those good people who have to put up with fascist gays, teachers and judges.

[PA Engineer]

Finally some sanity.

[gitmo]

Hooda thunkit?

[j_tull]

This ruling will stir up a hornets nest for publik edukation and its pro-sodomy agenda.

Great observation and puts "Zero Tolerance" in jeopardy. Maybe, just maybe, all is NOT lost...

[Neoliberalnot]

Finally, the perverts fail to get their way with full access to kids. Just around the corner is the law that says a normal child must submit to perverted advances by these deviants or face legal consequences.

[Amendment10]

Romans 1:25-27 tells us that same-sex sexual relationships are a consequence of idolatry. In other words, such relationships are a consequence of disobeying the 1ST COMMANDMENT, a major aspect of the GREATEST COMMANDMENT, to love the jealous God with all your being.

Homosexuals need to keep in mind, however, that the good news of the gospel is not about how God despises same-sex sexual relationships. In fact, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 indicates that certain members of that church had been slaves to such relationships but had been cleansed in Jesus' name. So these former homosexual had evidently repented and accepted God's grace to straighten their lives out.

John 3:16
Revelation 3:20

[Amendment10]

This post (<-click), while addressing a 10 Commandments issue, gives an idea how FDR's disdain for 10th A. protected state powers arguably helped to precipitate this anti-Christian expression t-shirt controversy.

[Antoninus]

Get the butt-sex agenda out of our schools!

[bankcritic]

Good for this young man, no one should ever be told “Your belief is wrong!”, not in America anyway. Too bad it doesn’t get done on a larger scale, most of our politicians would be out of a job if it was.

[Twink]

My teens said that all the students who participated in the DOS today had to wear Rainbow t-shirts (tshirts that said Day of Silence with a rainbow on it) so the teachers would know not to call on them and give them other classwork. I think it was also for the kids to bring attention to themselves and the *cause* but that’s just my opinion.

My Junior said she only had 5 students in all her classes, and those classes were Band and AP Psy, who wore the shirts/participated. She said her Band teachers told them (3, 2 girls and 1 guy) they had to perform/practice since they were practicing for the upcoming concert. She said her AP Psy class had 2 girls and the rest of the class just ignored them. My Soph said there were 2 girls in her Choir class who participated but sang anyway.

There’s not a whole lot of participation at this high school and most of those who do are female.