James Herndon, a practicing Wiccan, plans to return to class with makeup, (photo: San Bernadino Sun)
Posted on 04/14/2005 12:23:55 PM PDT by Nice50BMG
Wiccan boy booted
for wearing lipstick
Student claiming discrimination, violation of free-expression right
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com
James Herndon, a practicing Wiccan, plans to return to class with makeup, (photo: San Bernadino Sun) |
A California high-school student who practices Wiccan beliefs says his rights have been violated after being suspended this week for wearing lipstick and makeup.
"If I can't wear makeup, then the girls or the staff can't wear makeup either," 16-year-old James Herndon told the San Bernadino Sun, believing his constitutional right to free expression is being violated.
He says the cosmetics help him express his neopagan religious beliefs in the supernatural, which he shares with his mother, Valerie Wallace, a Wiccan priestess.
"After my divorce from his father, he became very depressed, and wearing the makeup makes him feel good," Wallace said.
Herndon, who is repeating his sophomore year, has reportedly been wearing the black lipstick and red eye makeup the entire time he's been attending Pacific High School. He also sports a red mohawk hairdo, though that was not cited as a reason for his five-day suspension.
While campus officials say James' makeup is a violation of policy, they had a hard time locating it in writing, unable to cite any reference to makeup in school regulations or the California Education Code.
They tied the suspension to the dress code in the student handbook, which notes if clothing "creates a safety hazard ... or when the dress constitutes a serious and unnecessary distraction to the learning process or tends to disrupt campus order," the student is in violation.
Lynda Savage, a San Bernardino City Unified School District board member, told the paper "without knowing all the details, my gut reaction is to support the principal. We don't suspend students just because. I suspect this student was a distraction to other students. We bend over backwards to provide our students better educational choices. I think this student needed to make a better choice."
But the local chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union disagrees, believing codes protecting freedom of expression and guarding against gender discrimination seem to have been violated.
"High school is the time where many students are expressing themselves and really finding themselves and so to suspend the student is such a severe punishment it's wrong," said ACLU staff attorney Christine Sun. "It's wrong not only as a legal matter, but it's not good policy."
James plans on wearing the makeup when he returns to class on Monday.
"My son shouldn't change the way he is," his mother said.
Isn't this always the case here with libereals?
Found his baby picture.....
Wow!! LOL I'm in shock. And to think that I had to adhere to a school dresscode when I was in a public high school. (yeah, a long, time ago.)
Whatever happened to standards of dress, or dress code if you will?
Impossible...I'AM GAY!
My daughter's boyfriend wears eyeliner.
I'm sure that's why she hasn't brought him home to meet us yet. :-)
I saw an interview with him this a.m. Hope he converts, or likes it hot.
I have to say, I think it would be cute if the school banned all makeup for everybody else to accomodate him.
You got it! This kid is softer than a sneaker full of jello; yet is craving attention.
A Wiccan? I love their furniture!
Gosh, now there's an original look.
Makes me wanna ditch my mullet ... )
You know, years ago I got really drunk in Tijuana and had a one night stand with a large Amazon parrot.
I think I just found my long-lost son!!!
Would you like fries with that ?
So mom's message to son is, It's not what matters inside, it's not that you're intelligent or have a skill or personalble, it's the OUTSIDE, cosmetic things that define you.
What's with red mohawks all of a sudden? The idiot who sloshed Pat Buchanan with salad dressing a few days ago also wore a red mohawk.
Divorce has screwed this young man up--he is desperately seeking attention.
I feel sorry for him--but I support the right of the school to enforce some sort of dress code.
The problem is that when you let kids go wild with the "self expression" a lot of them will spend way too much of their time and energy on clothes and makeup.
School is for learning first.
Self PING for later...LOL!
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