Lawsuit Raises
Questions About Putdown
By AP from the
NYTimes on the Web, February 28, 2007
SANTA ROSA, Calif. -- When a
few classmates razzed Rebekah Rice about her Mormon upbringing with questions
such as, ''Do you have 10 moms?'' she shot back: ''That's so gay.''
Those three words landed the high school freshman in the principal's office and
resulted in a lawsuit that raises this question: When do playground
insults used every day all over America cross the line into hate speech that
must be stamped out?
After Rice got a warning and a notation in her file, her parents sued, claiming
officials at Santa Rosa's Maria Carillo High violated their daughter's First
Amendment rights when they disciplined her for uttering a phrase ''which enjoys
widespread currency in youth culture,'' according to court documents.
Testifying last week about the 2002 incident, Rice, now 18, said that when she
uttered those words, she was not referring to anyone's sexual orientation.
She said the phrase meant: ''That's so stupid, that's so silly, that's so
dumb.''
But school officials say they took a strict stand against the putdown after two
boys were paid to beat up a gay student the year before.
''The district has a statutory duty to protect gay students from harassment,''
the district's lawyers argued in a legal brief. ''In furtherance of this
goal, prohibition of the phrase `That's so gay' ... was a reasonable
regulation.''
Superior Court Judge Elaine Rushing plans to issue a ruling in the non-jury
trial after final written arguments are submitted in April. Her gag order
prevents the two sides from discussing the case.
Derogatory terms for homosexuality have long been used as insults. But the
landscape has become confusing in recent years as minority groups have tried to
reclaim terms like ''queer,'' ''ghetto'' and the n-word.
In recent years, gay rights advocates and educators have tried teaching students
that it is hurtful to use the word ''gay'' as an all-purpose term for something
disagreeable. At Berkeley High School, a gay student club passed out
buttons with the words ''That's so gay'' crossed out to get their classmates to
stop using them.
Rick Ayers, a retired teacher who helped compile and publish the ''Berkeley High
School Slang Dictionary,'' a compendium of trendy teen talk circa 2001, said
educating students about offensive language is preferable to policing their
speech.
''I wouldn't be surprised if this girl didn't even know the origin of that
term,'' he said. ''The kids who get caught saying it will claim it's been
decontextualized, but others will say, `No, you know what that means.'
It's quite talked about.''
Rice's parents, Elden and Katherine Rice, also claim the public high school
employed a double-standard because, they say, administrators never sought to
shield Rebekah from teasing based on Mormon stereotypes.
In addition, the Rices say their daughter was singled out because of the
family's conservative views on sexuality. They are seeking unspecified
damages and want the disciplinary notation expunged from Rebekah's school
record.
Eliza Byard, deputy executive director of the New York-based Gay, Lesbian and
Straight Education Network, said nearly nine out of 10 gay students her
organization surveyed in 2005 reported hearing ''That's so gay'' or ''You're so
gay'' frequently.
''It bothers them a lot,'' Byard said. ''As odd or funny as the phrase
sounds, imagine what it feels like to be in a setting where you consistently
hear it used to describe something undesirable or stupid, and it also refers to
you.''
She said it is OK to discipline students for using the phrase after efforts have
been made to educate them.
''The job of a school is to deal proactively and consistently with all forms of
bullying, name-calling and harassment,'' she said.
Jordan Lorence, an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian legal
organization, agreed ''That's so gay'' carries a negative meaning and said he
would not want his children to say it. But he said formal discipline is
not the answer.
''Reasonable people should say, `Let's put a stop to this kind of
search-and-destroy mission by school officials for everything that is
politically incorrect,''' he said.
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