Students wear "Straight Pride" shirts with Bible verses calling for death

[Tsukasa Buddha]

What began as a week of anti-bullying efforts at St. Charles North High School has become an ongoing battle to decide when free speech crosses over into harassment and disruption.

Three students Monday wore shirts to school with the words “Straight Pride” on the front and the back quoted one translation of a Biblical verse that calls homosexuality an “abomination” and says those who perform homosexual acts shall be “put to death.” The students wore the shirts during the first day of Ally Week. Nationally, the week is seen by many as a time to promote anti-bullying efforts against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. But student Amanda Harshbarger said the weeklong event she helped plan was geared against bullying of any form. Monday was specifically designated to recognize recent gay student suicides resulting from bullying across the nation.

Linky.

I've long called for mandatory school uniforms.

“I was shocked,” Pezzuto said. “There is clearly a double standard here, and we're really upset about this.

He was shocked, shocked he tells ya!

Won't someone please think of the persecuted straights who are bullied by school districts every day?

(Yes, personally I find this very creepy.

Ally Week continues Friday. Word is spreading that a larger showing of students may wear “Straight Pride” or all-black shirts in protest of the district's decision to ask student not to wear anything containing those words. And when Friday comes, the Illinois chapter of the ACLU will be watching.

But they obviously aren't being straight (har har) with their feelings and are aiming for persecution, so why should I treat them seriously?)

 

[Aepervius]

1) find out if said student eat shellfish or wear mixed fiber clothing or any other stupid idiocy which is in the Bible.
2) wear a tshirt condemning said action on their face.

 

[NobleXenon54]

Are death threats protected under free speech? Aren't death threats ground for expulsion?

 

[Sir Robin Goodfellow]

I'm sure the courts would rule those biblical shirts a distraction in a school environment. The schools are well within their rights to forbid them, in my opinion.

 

[AvalonXQ]

Ah, school censorship. Another data point as to why government-mandated pre-majority brainwashing public school needs to go.

 

[marplots]

This is actually a good way to show how nutty someone's case really is. Let them express themselves. The wackier they are, the less likely someone is going to give the rest of their woo a pass.

"Jesus loves you."
"Weren't you the one wearing that T-shirt about homosexuality being an abomination?"

 

[AvalonXQ]

Sorry, but the moment you waste kids' time with something like Conformity Ally Week, you've lost the moral high ground to talk about t-shirts being disruptive to the learning environment.

 

[NobleXenon54]

1) find out if said student eat shellfish or wear mixed fiber clothing or any other stupid idiocy which is in the Bible.
2) wear a tshirt condemning said action on their face.

The ironic thing is that the shirts they were wearing are probably mixed fiber. I already know that a lot of Christians kinda suck at their own religion and probably don't know about these other versus. They also suck a lot more at acting these versus out to, you know, actually murder these people. The threat is still there to kill the gays, even if they suck at actually executing these versus.

 

[Skeptic]

Avalon: if the shirt merely said "straight pride", you'd have a point. Not if the shirt calls for death to homosexuals. I would also accept "Gay pride" shirts -- but not ones who claim all heterosexuals should be killed.

 

[Tony]

Sorry, but the moment you waste kids' time with something like Conformity Ally Week, you've lost the moral high ground to talk about t-shirts being disruptive to the learning environment.

Do you usually defend people who call for the death of others?

 

[Thunder]

straight pride, gay pride, black pride, jew pride. be proud all you like.

but the day you wear a shirt calling for the murder of other people...is the day I call 911.

"Jesus love you, but if you are gay...you should be stoned to death"

 

[AvalonXQ]

Avalon: if the shirt merely said "straight pride", you'd have a point.

So I have a point with regard to the kids who showed up on Tuesday wearing shirts that merely said "Straight Pride" and were told to remove them?

 

[TragicMonkey]

So I have a point with regard to the kids who showed up on Tuesday wearing shirts that merely said "Straight Pride" and were told to remove them?

What if they showed up wearing shirts that said "White Pride"? That could be viewed in two very different ways.

 

[Skeptic]

So I have a point with regard to the kids who showed up on Tuesday wearing shirts that merely said "Straight Pride" and were told to remove them?

I'd say you do. If the shirts also quoted verses calling for the death of homosexuals, however, the request to remove them is legitimate.

 

[AvalonXQ]

I'd say you do. If the shirts also quoted verses calling for the death of homosexuals, however, the request to remove them is legitimate.

It said in the article that the Monday kids were allowed to wear their shirts after blacking out the offending Bible quote. The Tuesday kids were forced to remove their shirts, despite having no such quote in the first place.

 

[Skeptic]

What if they showed up wearing shirts that said "White Pride"? That could be viewed in two very different ways.

If there was a national movement whose official motto was "Straight Pride" and which in reality did little else but target homosexuals for violent acts, then I would say "Straight Pride" could be banned. But there is no such movement. I would ban "White pride" if I were the principal, but not a shirt saying, say, "Proud to be an European-American" or something similar.

 

[AvalonXQ]

What if they showed up wearing shirts that said "White Pride"? That could be viewed in two very different ways.

I don't see two different ways for either shirt. It's clear to me that both shirts are messages of intolerance against another group -- either gays or nonwhites. What do you see as the alternate interpretation?

 

[Achán hiNidráne]

Do you usually defend people who call for the death of others?

As long as they are Christians? You bet he does!

 

[TraneWreck]

Come on Avalon, you're a smart guy, surely you can understand why "Straight Pride" is a cynical reaction to "Gay Pride" Movements.

If the people were wearing "Straight Pride" shirts for some reason other than attempting to piss off a group of people, you might have a point. There's no positive agenda, here. Straight people are not being threatened or bullied for being straight. This is just wholesale, teenaged dickishness.

I don't know why anyone would pretend these are perfectly symmetrical expressions.

 

[FattyCatty]

Linky.

I've long called for mandatory school uniforms.<snip>)

This.