Calif. School Backs Down After Censoring Student's Views on
Homosexuality
Head of Legal Defense Group: 'One-Way Tolerance Is Tyranny'
By Jim Brown
(AgapePress) - A high school in Rancho Cucamonga, California, recently
attempted to bar a student from wearing a T-shirt that read: "Tolerance
is the virtue of believing in nothing," and "Truth is truth --
homosexuality is wrong."
Senior Lindy Daniels was yanked from her classroom at Los Osos High
School, sent to the principal's office, and told she must either change
the shirt or leave school. Shortly afterward, her parents contacted
Pacific Justice Institute (PJI), a non-profit legal defense
organization that specializes in defending religious freedom, parental
rights, and other civil liberties.
One of PJI's attorneys immediately called the school and faxed a letter
the same day, explaining how students have First Amendment rights that
follow them when they step onto a school campus. The legal group
informed Los Ossos High School officials that the school was trampling
Daniels' free-speech rights, and that she would continue to wear the
shirt and other shirts expressing her values and beliefs at her own
discretion.
The school asserted that the censorship was based on concerns over
"tolerance" and "diversity." A Los Ossos High official explained that
homosexuals would be offended by a shirt bearing a message like the one
Daniels' wore. But PJI chief counsel Kevin Snider says the school was
engaging in anti-Christian bigotry -- and not for the first time.
"Regrettably, I have come to learn that this school has a history of
antagonism towards people who take a given position on the morality of
homosexuality and who celebrate traditional marriage," Snider notes.
But after PJI intervened on Daniels' behalf, the school backed down,
deciding not to punish the student, and has since stopped harassing
her.
According to Snider, school officials cannot legally deny students
their right to religious speech. "What schools should remember," the
attorney says, "is that students have a right to voice their opinion on
social, moral, and religious issues, and this is perfectly legal. It
should be encouraged within the realm of civil debate."
Commenting on the case, PJI president Brad Dacus observed, "One-way
tolerance is not tolerance, but tyranny." He says intolerance against
students because of their religious or moral convictions has no place
in public education.
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