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School
Wins Another Round
In
Ongoing Anti-Gay T-Shirt Case
by
365Gay.com from the Web, January 26,2007
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San Diego, California, Jan. 25
-- A federal court has ruled that a Southern California school had the power to
suspend a student for wearing a T-shirt denouncing homosexuality.
Tyler Chase Harper was kicked out of class at Poway High School in 2004 for not
removing the homemade T-shirt that said on the front "Be ashamed, our school
embraced what God has condemned," and on the back "Homosexuality is shameful".
The teen wore the shirt on the National Day of Silence in 2004.
Harper, with the help of the Alliance Defense Fund sued the school and sought an
injunction barring Poway from refusing to allow students to wear clothing with a
political or social message.
U.S. District Judge John A. Houston in his ruling cited a ruling last April by
the Ninth Circuit that found Poway Unified School District had not violated
Harper's First Amendment rights.
The Ninth Circuit panel addressed only the narrow issue of whether the dress
code should be unenforced pending the outcome of the student's First Amendment
suit. That part of the case as appealed to the US Supreme Court which will hear
arguments next month.
Houston was hearing the First Amendment applications of the lawsuit.
Houston said that Harper's case had become moot because he has graduated from
Poway, but agreed to hear it because Harper's sister is still a student at the
school and shared his views on gays.
The school district argued that the issue was not one of free speech but of
protecting the safety of students at Poway. The district noted that the year
prior to the Harper incident the campus was disrupted by protests and conflicts
between students over the Day of Silence.
Judge Houston's ruling agreed with the school's with that assessment that the
issue was one of protecting students.
Lawyers for the Harper family say they will appeal. Ultimately that aspect
of the case may also reach the Supreme Court.
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