Ohio Students Face Discipline for Gay Rights T-shirts Follow Us Despite the LGBT harmony you see on the Ohio-set show Glee, Buckeye State small-town life isn’t all rainbows. Students at the public Celina High School in Mercer County face out-of-school suspensions for refusing to remove T-shirts that read I SUPPORT [RAINBOW]. EXPRESS YOURSELF and STRAIGHT BUT SUPPORTIVE, a student representative, who uses the online handle KyraGrace, told HyperVocal. We’d contacted KyraGrace — we decided not to name the students we spoke with until at least all disciplinary matters have been sorted — shortly after reading his post on Reddit: “Today, 20 students at our high school got in trouble for promoting gay rights because of the political issue.” In the post, he explains that on Tuesday, the assistant principal “punished these students and forced them to change because they are advertising ‘political’ messages. Yet this school promotes their pro-life club called the Students for Life. They have their own shirts, which have a fetus and promote pro-life. Not to mention the signs they put up around our town. They refuse to debate with pro-choicers as well. How is that not considered ‘political’?” Students in the pro-life recruitment organization Students for Life, which meets regularly after school, are allowed to wear their shirts “whenever they want,” KyraGrace claims. But when 20 students showed up wearing hand-drawn messages declaring support for gay marriage, school administrators told them to change clothes. Those who refused were given detentions and threatened with out-of-school suspensions if the shirts made a second appearance. Follow @_Cooper on Twitter for more updates. Unsurprisingly, Celina is a conservative-leaning high school in red-leaning Mercer County, which sits in the northwest region of the hotly contested midwestern state. Late last week, the high school was host to vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan, who asked Ohioans to pray for victims of then-Hurricane Sandy. According to a student who organized the T-shirt protest, Celina High School assistant principal Phil Metz simply told him “to never wear the shirt again.” The organizer, a sophomore, told us students defied orders and wore the same shirts Wednesday. “One person wore a shirt today and has been in the office for over an hour because she does not want to take it off,” he reported. He started the campaign after his sister and a friend wore “Twin Day” T-shirts that read LESBIAN 1 and LESBIAN 2. They were asked to remove the shirts. Tuesday’s tees were pledges of support. “My sister got yelled at and screamed at [by administrators], and she was basically told she was unwanted at the school because she was gay,” he told USNews.com. Metz and principal Jason Luebke have so far declined our repeated requests to comment. “Most people say [the administrators] probably won’t respond,” says the source. “They’re probably on damage control right now, but I believe it’s too late for that.” The assistant principal’s defense is that the shirts were political, says KyraGrace. But that argument appears to be a double standard. Students at Celina often wear shirts displaying their political affiliations. (To prove a point, KyraGrace sent me a picture of a student sitting across from him in class, wearing a Romney/Ryan T-shirt.) Mike Brickner, Ohio ACLU Director of Communications & Public Policy, told us via email that if the allegations are correct, the students have the First Amendment on their side. Regardless of the viewpoint they are expressing, students do not shed their First Amendment rights when they enter school. This is well-established constitutional law going back more than four decades. The law is not new or ambiguous. What is even more troubling are the reports that some students were able to wear shirts with different political messages, while these students were unable to express their opinion. That is simply unfair and unconstitutional censorship. It sounds like the school is trying to silence the students who are passively expressing a viewpoint on the basis that individuals who disagree with that message will be upset and disruptive. This is not a valid justification for suppressing free speech. In May, a student named Maverick Couch sued his school for prohibiting him from wearing a shirt that read JESUS IS NOT A HOMOPHOBE. The court ruled in his favor, and his school was forced to pay court costs and damages. CHS’s gay rights tees don’t appear to be violating any dress code. The Celina City District bylaws and policies page warns that no clothing should “materially interfere with school work, create disorder, or disrupt the educational program” (emphasis ours), and that “the Board will not interfere with the right of students and their parents to make decisions regarding their appearance, except when their choices interfere with the educational program of the schools.” Unless the shirts bind the students’ arms and steal their pencils, the ban on pride apparel at Celina sounds more like a political agenda than a safety concern. And the kids can see right through it, of course. Emailing from school Wednesday, KyraGrace told us, “Students aren’t happy about it. I guess Phil told one student they weren’t welcome because of their sexual preference. But that’s all speculation.” KyraGrace and other students are lamenting the arbitrary standards of free speech at CHS. Celina high schoolers “are really open about being racist” and will drop racial slurs such as “sand n***er” without fear of reprisal, he says. He plans to stir up as much buzz has possible to counter what he calls an imposition on the students’ First Amendment rights. “They need to drop this act and facade that they are playing. It’s gone on way too long.” The protesting students are reaching out to local and national news to try to put “public pressure” on the school. “There is talk of wearing the shirts again in some student protest, but we’d like media backing and outside support beforehand. We feel like if we organize this and implement it, that they could try suspending us or worse,” says KyraGrace. “I hope we’ll win. I really do,” he added. “I’ll fight until we do, even if it takes my whole being.” For their part, the Students for Life have kept silent. Follow Us SEE MORE: • National Coming Out Day: 6 Bits of Unconventional Advice • Sally Field, Mom to Gay Son, Accepts HRC Ally Award
busyb@hotmail.com 31.10.12 @ 6:43 pm Well if bringing in the belief of being gay is ok then the schools better bring God back into the schools as well bc its not any different. Some peoples beliefs are different about God……. well some peoples beliefs about being gay are different as well so with that being said if you bring the gay support in schools you better bring the Lord back into the schools!
Imbetteroff 31.10.12 @ 7:05 pm You mean like having groups like Students for Life, or Christian Athletes, or the myriad of other faith-based groups allowed in public schools? Or is that just not enough for you?
busyb@hotmail.com 31.10.12 @ 8:55 pm Nope thats not enough, bc for whatever reason Christians are looked at as horrible people bc of their beliefs and everyone thinks that we are trying to push God on people when we aren’t. Only time we ever do anything like that is when we get asked questions and if you don’t care then don’t ask but just like all you people believe that gay rights should be supported in school I believe Christ should be supported in school when in reality He really isn’t. The thing that kills me is that gay people deserve “special” rights bc they are gay, what makes them different from you or I? not a thing so why give a gay person totally different rights than a straight person and this doesn’t just go for gay people but it goes for any race or color or anything. What makes any of these people think just bc they are a different race or color we owe them something? Definitely not racist or discriminating anyone but if you believe that gay people should have certain rights compared to others than when one of them take your job just like the “minority” are doing in a lot of places
busyb@hotmail.com 31.10.12 @ 9:20 pm lol far far from racist, just believe in equal rights not “special” rights!!!
R 31.10.12 @ 9:29 pm Just because you claim you are not racist or anti-gay doesn’t make it true. Christian students have the right to get together and have school organizations and events, like any other group. As for “special rights,” well, I don’t consider it “special” to want to be treated the same, legally and socially, as heterosexual couples.
Parent 01.11.12 @ 5:48 pm Why do these kids think they need to advertise there sexual preference anyway. That is a private matter not for school, no one wants or needs to know.
Jason Cook 02.11.12 @ 4:12 am You are straight and allowed to get married. They are gay and asking to be allowed to get married. How are they asking for anything special? How are they asking for rights that aren’t already afforded to straight couples? I would have to agree that they are no different then you or I in any way then sexual preference and a multitude of rights already afforded to straight people. How are Christians NOT forcing their religious doctrine on people if they force legislative actions on everyone else based on their narrow views of morality? And if you dont think Christians are trying to force religion down peoples throats, you ought to check out the folks that protest at soldiers funerals. Maybe this might help you a bit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddsz9XBhrYA
Jazzmen 02.11.12 @ 9:02 am Asking for equal rights is not asking for special treatment. The school supports a pro-life club that has t-shirts that are allowed to be worn openly they should be allowed to wear pride shirts.
Parent 02.11.12 @ 9:17 am Looks as though your a bigot against Christians. Christians are trying to preserve the legislature that has been in place since our country was formed. It’s the gay agenda that’s being forced down everyone’s throats. Nice double standard, Christians are supposed to tolerate your view but you won’t tolerate ours?
Opal 02.11.12 @ 8:19 pm Try learning to spell first off. And secondly, try tolerance like Jesus did. It does no harm to anyone if someone is gay. Our nation is NOT a Christian nation, sorry. http://freethought.mbdojo.com/foundingfathers.html
cthaxton1313 02.11.12 @ 9:25 pm i think every1 should have the same rights as every1 else but if it takes something big to get the point across then do it no 1 should judge any1 im a christian to an i dont judge any1 cause u will be judge 1 day so wacth out
Mike Newland 03.11.12 @ 5:17 pm if the priests would stop rapeing children maybe they wouldnt be looked down upon. and if gays were afforded the same rights as straights maybe the issue would go away. and if you say god hates gays then you’re pushing your religion on others
Mike Newland 03.11.12 @ 5:19 pm why do hetrosexual couples kiss in public? no one wants or needs to know.
Mike Newland 03.11.12 @ 5:25 pm we should bring darwinism back as well. do you have DNA/scientific proof jesus even existed or are you just going on folklore passed down from generation to generation?
Mike Newland 03.11.12 @ 7:20 pm if there were a test to determine if your son were going to be gay befor he was born, would you abort that child or would you love him unconditionaly? and how does aborting a gay child rub against your belief of non-abortion?
anon_person 03.11.12 @ 8:46 pm If there was a test to determine if the child was gay or not, those guys up above would probably send them to gay camp their whole life to get raped, abused, molested or whatever they do at those “gay” camps to turn them “straight.” I think this article is bull. The school shouldn’t be “public” if they’re going to force Christianity and conservative lifestyle/beliefs and all that on the students. They have Catholic and Christian schools for that, they need to focus on academics and what the kids are supposed to know and leave their messed up political agenda to private schools.