Friday, April 25, 2008 | Reason : In the News | print version

Student's 'Be Happy, Not Gay' t-shirt ok

by The Advertiser

Thanks to the link Michael for the link.

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,23596713-5005962,00.html

Student's 'Be Happy, Not Gay' t-shirt ok

A US federal court has granted permission for a teenager to wear a t-shirt with the slogan "Be Happy, Not Gay" during a Christian day of action held in response to a gay rights protest.

A high school in Neuqua Valley, Illinois, had banned student Alexander Neuxoll from wearing the t-shirt in class for a Christian group's "Day of Truth'' opposing homosexuality.

The day, which has been marked annually for the past four years, is a response to a "Day of Silence'' that has taken place in schools and colleges across the United States since 1996 to call for more tolerance for gay people.

During the Day of Silence students are asked not to say anything all day. At Neuqua Valley school, participants will show their support by wearing a t-shirt with the slogan "Be Who You Are''.

The school, while stressing its neutrality, barred Mr Neuxoll from wearing a t-shirt saying "Be Happy, Not Gay'' on the grounds that it was insulting.

But he said that was an affront to his freedom of expression and the federal appeals court agrees.

The judges said Mr Neuxoll's t-shirt slogan was only "tepidly negative'' and it was "highly speculative'' that wearing it would "poison the educational atmosphere'', so he should be allowed to wear it.

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1. Comment #168426 by Gymnopedie on April 25, 2008 at 6:21 am

What a little rebel...

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2. Comment #168428 by epeeist on April 25, 2008 at 6:24 am

So would it be OK to wear this?

http://www.atheists-online.com/store.asp?shop=01800#1

Other Comments by epeeist

3. Comment #168435 by Quetzalcoatl on April 25, 2008 at 6:30 am

Wow, that t-shirt is totally hardcore. He must get a lot of attention from the ladies. They do like a rebel.

Other Comments by Quetzalcoatl

4. Comment #168436 by Aequitas12345 on April 25, 2008 at 6:31 am

He has every right to express himself freely and i support his right to do so.

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5. Comment #168441 by Apathy personified on April 25, 2008 at 6:39 am

epeeist, you've made my day with that, thanks. In answer to your question, legally, yes you can, but you may get a)lynched b) have an exorcism performed on you if you wore it in the wrong place. Although, if you were at an event to encourage safe sex........

Other Comments by Apathy personified

6. Comment #168442 by AllanW on April 25, 2008 at 6:39 am

He's a kid at school. He represents no-one but himself. He has no responsible position or legislative function to uphold. I support his right to wear the slogan t-shirt.

It makes it easier for the other kids to spot who the christian bigot in the crowd is.

Other Comments by AllanW

7. Comment #168447 by julianp on April 25, 2008 at 6:41 am

This is a difficult call. I am a fiendish supporter of freedom of speech, even when that speech is patently insulting. Given that students at public schools are essentially a captive audience, I think that there is a greater need for sensitivity to censoring patently offensive messages. I'm sure we would all agree that there are SOME shirt slogans which would be obviously inappropriate for public schools. Does this qualify? I certainly find it offensive.

The judges said Mr Neuxoll's t-shirt slogan was only "tepidly negative''

Some would consider this less 'tepid' than others.

Other Comments by julianp

8. Comment #168456 by irate_atheist on April 25, 2008 at 6:51 am

Does the reverse say 'Kick Me'?

Just wondering....

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9. Comment #168460 by annabanana on April 25, 2008 at 6:52 am

Does the reverse say 'Kick Me'?

Just wondering....

I don't know, but it should.

Other Comments by annabanana

10. Comment #168464 by will young on April 25, 2008 at 6:53 am

If you're gay and try not to be how could you be happy? The phrase is asinine. I say let him wear the shirt to show what an ignorant fool he is.

Other Comments by will young

11. Comment #168465 by Quetzalcoatl on April 25, 2008 at 6:55 am

irate-

Perhaps he has a T-shirt at home that says something else on the rear?

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12. Comment #168475 by Ygern on April 25, 2008 at 7:01 am

He should absolutely be allowed to wear it.

Let ignorant hate-filled bigots expose themselves for all to see.

However, when people tell him what a small-minded retard he is, I hope he will respect their freedom of speech.

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13. Comment #168478 by irate_atheist on April 25, 2008 at 7:02 am

11. Comment #168465 by Quetzalcoatl -

Perhaps we should have our own printed.

I'll let you guess what the slogan would be.

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14. Comment #168482 by Adam Morrison on April 25, 2008 at 7:06 am

He's free to wear it of course.

Other students are free, nay, encouraged to wear a shirt saying 'Be tolerant, not a douchebag'

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15. Comment #168483 by epeeist on April 25, 2008 at 7:06 am

The one argument against it is that it doesn't really fit with the "Be Who You Are" theme for the day.

Other than that, let him wear it. However, the converse applies. Anyone wearing a t-shirt from the organisation in my previous post should not be penalised in any way.

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16. Comment #168493 by skepticato on April 25, 2008 at 7:09 am

Oh please let him wear it. And please take lots of photos! By the time he grows up, the fact that he wore that T-shirt as a child will be about as offensive as someone who walked around in KKK regalia.

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17. Comment #168496 by will young on April 25, 2008 at 7:10 am

Now I get it!

'Be Happy, Not Gay!' is code for 'Sir, Please Fuck Me!'

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18. Comment #168505 by Ygern on April 25, 2008 at 7:16 am

Epeeist wrote

The one argument against it is that it doesn't really fit with the "Be Who You Are" theme for the day.

I disagree. He is being exactly who he is.
Small-minded, bigot, propanda-filled twit.

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19. Comment #168508 by HoyaSaxa87 on April 25, 2008 at 7:16 am

I guess by principle, I should say he can wear it. That said, he deserves a swift kick the in the crotch. But more importantly an education.

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20. Comment #168510 by ThoughtsonCommonToad on April 25, 2008 at 7:17 am

The school, while stressing its neutrality, barred Mr Neuxoll from wearing a t-shirt saying "Be Happy, Not Gay'' on the grounds that it was insulting.

But he said that was an affront to his freedom of expression and the federal appeals court agrees.

Well Done federal court. This is exactly what Freedom of Speech is for. Censorship of any kind should not be tolerated. Voltaire would turn in his grave if he was still in it.

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21. Comment #168535 by exquisitetruth on April 25, 2008 at 7:33 am

I think we are going about this all wrong. We should let these crackpots express themselves to the fullest extent. By stifling the more extreme expressions of their faith, we force them to present a more moderate facade. If we pull out all the stops and let them preach what they really think, their popular support would shrivel up faster than a Catholic Priest's ball sack at finding Chris Hansen at his door.

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22. Comment #168536 by nalfeshnee on April 25, 2008 at 7:35 am

If I were the students, I would simply print off a run off 100 t-shirts with

"Alexander Neuxoll"

on it.

Nothing more, nothing less.

The weirdness of seeing a bunch of people walking around with your name on them - and, specifically, without any explanation of why they are doing it - would weird him out enough I think.

Like the film "Being John Malkovich".

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23. Comment #168538 by ReasonToBeCheerful on April 25, 2008 at 7:36 am

... Christian group's "Day of Truth" ...

Now, there's an oxymoron if ever I saw one.

Being gay is no more a personal choice than being black, female, short, etc. Can you imagine the uproar that would likely be caused if the slogan had read, 'Be Happy, Not Black'?

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24. Comment #168543 by CambrianExplosion on April 25, 2008 at 7:38 am

I'm all for freedom of speech, but this is hate speech. What if his shirt had a cute slogan about black/white segregation instead of homosexuality. Of course this student feels like it's free speech because he *thinks* homosexuality is a choice, not a state of being. This is one of those cases where we really need a voice of scientific reason in government, because not EVERYTHING can be an opinion. Some things just aren't right, or not even wrong.

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25. Comment #168544 by j.mills on April 25, 2008 at 7:38 am

I once saw a chap walking through the centre of Manchester, turning heads all the way with his T-shirt. I think it was from a Motley Crue tour. It was baggy and black, and in huge white letters it said (without asterisk!): JESUS WAS A C*NT.

Now, that would test the school's freedom of speech policy! :)

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26. Comment #168550 by exquisitetruth on April 25, 2008 at 7:45 am

let them speak their hate. otherwise, how will we know who the dangerous ones are? A wound can't heal until you expose it to the air. If we force them to hide the ugliest parts of who they are, they will just protect those things, and nurture them in secret.

Other Comments by exquisitetruth

27. Comment #168553 by sidelined on April 25, 2008 at 7:49 am

The fact that a phrase is insulting is not an arguement against the freedom to express the opinion he has. Having the right to wear that shirt means he also cannot, later on, complain about what others are wearing when they express their opinions as well.
Freedom for one ,freedom for all.

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28. Comment #168559 by phasmagigas on April 25, 2008 at 7:50 am

somebody needs to kidnap him and take him to the daddy bear bar down in the swamps.

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29. Comment #168567 by Gymnopedie on April 25, 2008 at 7:57 am

I really think public schools should be a "neutral zone" of sorts, where stupid things like this offensive shirt should be banned. Freedom of Speech for ignorant little kids with, perhaps, even more ignorant parents is not the same thing as Freedom of Speech as we see it on a day to day level. For a school, I think a reasonable level of censorship can be had without any of the slippery slopes we expect when we deal with censorship issues on this site oh so regularly. If I am missing something, please protest. (I should note that a new policy should not be enacted to ban the shirt if a policy did not exist before that would ban it. Creating rules for one incident is both paranoid and stupid.)

I always wonder about the parents in a situation like this. I wouldn't be surprised at all if the kid is wearing the shirt at their suggestion or with encouragment from his church or something of that nature. When dealing with kids, the issue is far blurrier than we can see from a tiny article.

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30. Comment #168575 by phasmagigas on April 25, 2008 at 8:05 am

at the end of the day its hate speech dressed up.

imagine if an anti islamist group (maybe some christians for eg) used the word 'M' to represent mohammed as a symbol. if you wore that on a T shirt at school would that be acceptable? its only a letter m, but the intent is hostile. many religious people simply like to play at nice.

i guess the wicked thing here is that you are attacking a minority who are hardly going to fight back, just how many gays at a school are pushing their lifestyle, most of them are probably terrified of even coming out.

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31. Comment #168576 by exquisitetruth on April 25, 2008 at 8:05 am

Oh, I am sure this kid is wearing this shirt as a direct result of what he is being told at his local house of indoctrination. That being said, I am against any form of censoring ideas; even when those ideas can hardly be classified as the result of thinking. School is where kids learn to socialize, and will be the template for their interactions with the community in later life. If we censor such things for students, they will grow up believing they have an inherent right not to be insulted or offended . . . oh, wait . . . well, too late for that I suppose. Anyhow, we should teach these kids that they do not have a right to not be offended.
Besides, my earlier statements still stand; if we let them say what's really on their minds, there is a better chance that fewer people will see their opinions as reasonable, and worth defending.

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32. Comment #168578 by MaxD on April 25, 2008 at 8:08 am

I agree he should be allowed to wear the shirt and cannot think of any good reason to deny him that right. Is it hate speech, I think that is not a good concept legally.
If a school were to say, no shirts of any kind with slogans because we think it endangers the learning environment I suppose that would be okay.
As stupid as the shirt is, and despite the wealth of ignorance it betrays, he should be allowed to wear it. And everyone who disagrees should feel free to challenge on it. By wearing any kind of shirt they want, or direct debate. Somewearing a shirt like that has brought a certain amount of conversational interest their way and had better be able to defend the ideas they espouse by wearing them. I hope anyone wearing "Be happy, not gay," shirts gets a good dose of argument, and ridicule for their efforts.

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33. Comment #168582 by HoyaSaxa87 on April 25, 2008 at 8:11 am

I've got to change my opinion on this one. I know a lot of you out there are Brits and you're going to think I'm an overly sensitive American, but here's the thing. This kid should have freedom of speech, even to bigoted dogmatic speech, but that has limits in public school. Public schools are meant to be inclusive and MUST take every step necessary for students to feel comfortable, and hate speech like this kid is exhibiting through his t-shirt threatens the environment of the school. There's a reason the school made him remove it at first...it was offensive. And it certainly is, the school has every right to forbid the wearing of that shirt or anything that attacks a group of people.

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34. Comment #168584 by phasmagigas on April 25, 2008 at 8:12 am

I agree he should be allowed to wear the shirt and cannot think of any good reason to deny him that right. Is it hate speech, I think that is not a good concept legally.
If a school were to say, no shirts of any kind with slogans because we think it endangers the learning environment I suppose that would be okay.

in principal i agree that the t shirt should not be censored, there are consequences though.

imagine if there was an 'm' anti islamic slogan as i described above, if that was allowed in say a secular french school you could expect severe riots that very day.

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35. Comment #168587 by ThoughtsonCommonToad on April 25, 2008 at 8:15 am

I really think public schools should be a "neutral zone" of sorts, where stupid things like this offensive shirt should be banned.

They would not be neutral if stupid things are banned they would be the opposite. Who shall be the censor that arbitrates what enters the "neutral zone". The only restriction on schools is the teaching of falsehoods and lies and propaganda.

If you censor things like this you deny my child's right to hear another view. That is far worse than someone espousing the view.

EDIT:Have a listen to the Hitch - The speech is from a debate at Hart House, University of Toronto. Hitchens speech is in opposition to a proposed amendment to criminalize hate speech.

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36. Comment #168588 by Lucas on April 25, 2008 at 8:16 am

I'm a big fan of wearing whatever slogan you wish on your t-shirt, although unfortunately I think this instance exposes a double standard. I can't remember exactly, but there have been many cases where kids have not been able to wear shirts that were far less bigoted. Anybody care to look those up? I have to get to work.

And like I've said before, I'm all for free speech, but it ends where my fist begins -- the Die Hard 2 example -- so I just hope there is someone in that school with the inclination to beat the shit out of that twerp.

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37. Comment #168601 by Star Spangled Eagle on April 25, 2008 at 8:24 am

See, I'd like him to wear a shirt with something more direct; there is no need to beat around the bush. It should say:

"I'm a Homophobe, No gayness within 25 feet"

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38. Comment #168619 by notsobad on April 25, 2008 at 8:36 am

He indeed has a right to label himself as an intolerant idiot.

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39. Comment #168626 by annabanana on April 25, 2008 at 8:39 am

Lucas,

I recall reading about/hearing about an incident where a few boys started wearing hooters shirts to school and in response, a few girls worked up a shirt that said cocks that looked rather similar and the girls were suspended, but nothing was done to the boys. That's more of an incident of sexism, though, I suppose.

Other Comments by annabanana

40. Comment #168630 by al-rawandi on April 25, 2008 at 8:42 am

Anna,

Hooters is a restaurant, and a quality one at that.

And on the shirt, it is an owl with two big eyes, that's all.

What restaurant is called "cocks" and where is the rooster on the shirt?

|>:-{o

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41. Comment #168633 by exquisitetruth on April 25, 2008 at 8:45 am

al-rawandi,

This is too much. I will tolerate a lot of loose talk from people, but when you can Hooters a quality restaurant, you have gone too far sir.

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42. Comment #168637 by al-rawandi on April 25, 2008 at 8:47 am

All,

This whole thing. So what. We still have this obnoxious thing called "free speech". Anyone who doesn't like it, feel free to wear a shirt that says:

"Fuck Free Speech".

Other Comments by al-rawandi

43. Comment #168638 by annabanana on April 25, 2008 at 8:48 am

al-rawandi,

The eyes on the owl(which are also the two "o"s in hooters) look suspiciously like a pair of naked breasts.

The design on the cocks shirt had the head of the rooster around the "o" in cock, but I don't think it particularly looked like a penis.

If I remember correctly the girls had asked that the boys not be allowed to wear the shirts before they made their own version, but their request was denied.

I'll try to dig it up.

Anyway, the kids were all in middle school.

Other Comments by annabanana

44. Comment #168639 by MrPickwick on April 25, 2008 at 8:49 am

The Ted Haggard wannabee wants to make a fool of himself? So what?

God, in his amazing wisdom [Hitchen's AWE anecdote here], created Dawkinses, monkeys, peas, bulls and idiots; Jesus loves them all! Let them be!

Other Comments by MrPickwick

45. Comment #168664 by Miss Harry on April 25, 2008 at 9:14 am

epeeist, you've made my day too. Think I'm going to get one of the T-shirts off that site that says 'Atheists Scream Your Name During Sex'!

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46. Comment #168669 by moderndaythomas on April 25, 2008 at 9:22 am

Think I'm going to get one of the T-shirts off that site that says 'Atheists Scream Your Name During Sex'!

Does this mean there are no atheists in bed?

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47. Comment #168671 by MaxD on April 25, 2008 at 9:22 am

Anna,
I'm not sure where I sit on the offense taking at the hooters shirt. However, I think the girls protest was brilliant and pointed at silly double standard. They should not have been suspended. Hooters is clearly a slang term for female breasts, and the restaraunt itself a place for people to see them on display behind the veneer of a tight fitting t-shirt. Cock is a slang term for penis. So why the girls get booted and the guys don't is a shock to me.
This strikes me as the same double standard that exists for frontal nudity in film. Full frontal male nudity will likely get you an NC-17, full frontal female is always okay. I'm not sure what the reason for that is but it seems related, don't you think?

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48. Comment #168677 by AllanW on April 25, 2008 at 9:28 am

Free speech rights require protection even for the bigots. In other words, to be free to espouse your own viewpoints you need to support the rights of others to espouse theirs. You don't have to agree with them and some free speech will generate responses that are entirely unwelcome; lap it up, that's the real world. And a school absolutely is required to be a haven for these kinds of ideas to be expressed in not to be sheltered from IMO.

If I weren't so podgy around the middle I'd be wearing a home-made t-shirt with the slogan;

'Please don't be offended, it's not just YOUR god I don't believe in ..'

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49. Comment #168684 by Frankus1122 on April 25, 2008 at 9:33 am

I have a t shirt that has this on it:

http://www.traveladventures.org/continents/europe/images/eastsidegallery01.jpg

I get looks but not much more.

BTW: Can anyone translate this for me? I've asked several German and Russian speakers and I have never been able to get a straight (no pun) answer.

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50. Comment #168693 by knutsondc on April 25, 2008 at 9:45 am

Frankus1122: The German in the picture you linked is "My God, help me to survive this deadly love."

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