Soapbox

About a year ago, a middle school student was sent home from chool for refusing to change his shirt, which had a bible verse on the front and on the back said,
“Homosexuality is a sin. Islam is a lie. Abortion is murder. Some things are just black and white.”
The school felt that school was not an appropriate place for such an inflammatory message, but his parents (who no doubt bought him the shirt from Operation Rscue) disagreed and, backed by the deep pockets of a right-wing group, took them to court.

I read with true sadness that a U. S. district court judge ruled yesterday that bigotry and hatred are neither distracting or “clearly offensive” to young Ohioans. (“Student Wins T-shirt verdict” Aug 19th)

Well I would like to go on record as saying that a child wearing a shirt that says “Homosexuality is a sin. Islam is a lie” is deeply offensive to me, at least. In addition to being appalled at the sort of parents who would make their child a human billboard to advertise their hate, I find Judge Smith’s decision breath-takingly activist.

I am hemming up Katie’s pants this week because they may not touch the floor when she walks, and she is not allowed to wear a bandannas in the building, just in case it might be a gang symbol- but the judge thinks this is A-OK in Ohio schools?

There are all sorts of dress code restrictions at schools, for good reasons. Middle school and elementary schools in particular are really not an appropriate place for strong religious or political statements by kids. What if a kid showed up at the judge’s son’s class with a shirt that said
“Right wing fundamentalists pervert the word of God“?
While I agree with that sentiment, I also feel that it was wholly inappropriate for them to wear a shirt that insults a large group- any group- of people IN SCHOOL. I would have no problem with John Kerry shirts being banned at a school, as long as George Bush shirts were banned too. Keep politics and religion out of public school.

Conservatives say “there you liberals go, being a slave to the politically correct” but when did tolerance become a dirty word in Ohio? My issue is not with a person’s right to espouse a belief that I personally think is wrong. When you start saying it’s not disruptive or offensive for a kid to wear a shirt that reduces the world’s largest religion to “a lie” to his school– why not approve one that says “Eliminate black unemployment: Repeal the 15th amendment!” ? Well, a person has a right to wear a shirt that espouses the philosophy of the kkk, but NOT TO SCHOOL when they’re 12 years old!

This is why so many schools resort to school uniforms, and who can blame them? It just makes sense to eliminate all these bumpy issues: Is it a gang symbol or just a bandanna? Is it OK to demean every Muslim on the face of the earth in 6th grade or not? Lets’ just say NO shirts with any words or pictures on them other than the school name, NO hats of any kind, etc. and then we can spend more time worrying about passing those moronic tests we saddle our children with every year and less over this redneck kids’ urge to insult people he doesn’t even know.

My issue is not with the hateful, nasty shirt or his right to wear it while hanging out at the corner dipping snuff with his pointy-headed friends. My issue is that there are things that our public schools were never intended to teach. Religion is one, hate is another. This shirt is about both.