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Guest
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On fire! |
Registered: March 2012
Messages: 2344
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ACLU Warns Arkansas School to Stop Persecuting Gay Student
March 13, 2003
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JACKSONVILLE, AR -- The American Civil Liberties Union is challenging
officials at Jacksonville Junior High School over repeated punishment
of a 14-year-old student for being openly gay. In a letter to school
officials sent today, the ACLU demanded that the school stop
violating the student's rights and remove all unconstitutional
disciplinary actions taken against him from his record by March 21 or
face legal action.
In its letter, the ACLU said that school officials "outed" the gay
student, Thomas McLaughlin, to his parents against his wishes and
have since told him he must not discuss being gay while at school,
forced him to read from the Bible and disciplined him for being open
about his sexual orientation.
"My school forced me out of the closet when I should have been
allowed to come out to my family on my own terms and when I thought
it was the right time. And now the school has been trying to shove me
back into it ever since," McLaughlin said. "I'm through with being
silenced, and I don't want this happening to other gay kids at my
school."
McLaughlin's troubles with the school began last year, when a school
official called McLaughlin's mother to tell her that her son was gay.
McLaughlin, who at that point had only come out to a handful of close
friends at school, wasn't ready to tell his parents yet.
To "out" a young person to his or her parents is more than a mere
overstepping of boundaries -- it can have tragic consequences, such
as when a Pennsylvania youth heard a similar threat from police
officers in 1997 and committed suicide rather than face what he
feared would be rejection from his family. In that case, a federal
appeals court has held that threatening to disclose private
information violated the teenager's constitutional right to privacy.
Fortunately for McLaughlin, his parents were accepting and
understanding, avoiding such tragedy.
"Students should not be punished for being honest about their sexual
orientation," said Leslie Cooper, staff attorney with the ACLU's
Lesbian and Gay Rights Project. "It's shameful how Jacksonville
Junior High School has trampled on Thomas McLaughlin's constitutional
rights to intimidate and silence him from being honest about who he
is. If this were civics class, the school would be failing."
Now that McLaughlin has become more open about his sexual
orientation, the school has made numerous attempts to punish and
silence him for being out at school:
One teacher called a conference with McLaughlin's parents and the
principal because she objected to his being open about being gay.
During the meeting, the principal concurred that she was opposed to
McLaughlin talking at school about being gay.
A different teacher ordered McLaughlin not to discuss his sexual
orientation, saying that she found it "sickening," and later called
his mother to complain about his homosexuality.
School officials preached their religious views on homosexuality and
forced him to read aloud from the Bible in clear violation of the
establishment clause of the First Amendment. This was done as
punishment after McLaughlin, who is himself a Christian, disagreed
with a teacher for calling him "abnormal" and "unnatural."
In violation of McLaughlin's free speech rights, the school suspended
him for two days for telling other students about being made to read
the Bible in school. The principal and assistant principal also told
McLaughlin that if he told any of his friends why he was suspended,
they would recommend that he be expelled.
McLaughlin is not even allowed to participate in typical teenage
conversations about crushes. In January he was disciplined for
talking between classes with a female friend about a boy they both
considered "cute." He was disciplined; his friend was not.
"Thomas McLaughlin's school has completely overstepped the boundaries
of the law in the way it has treated him," said Rita Sklar, Executive
Director of the ACLU of Arkansas. "School officials have no place
trying to convert a student's religious beliefs to their own, and
they certainly have no place using religion as a way to punish
students."
The case is being handled by the ACLU's Lesbian and Gay Rights
Project and attorney Kathy Hall of Little Rock.
Text of the ACLU letter to school officials: (go to
http://www.aclu.org/LesbianGayRights/LesbianGayRights.cfm?ID=12082&c=106
and scroll down)
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Speaks For Itself. This teen has real guts...
By: Guest on Thu, 20 March 2003 11:14 |
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Re: Speaks For Itself. This teen has real guts...
By: Steve on Thu, 20 March 2003 12:18 |
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No offence taken
By: e on Thu, 20 March 2003 16:21 |
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Re: No offence taken
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Re: No offence taken
By: rbryce on Fri, 21 March 2003 04:16 |
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School contact info...
By: Guest on Sun, 23 March 2003 17:29 |
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I wrote thus, and from my personal named email account:
By: timmy on Sun, 23 March 2003 18:29 |
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Bible belt mentality
By: Guest on Mon, 24 March 2003 11:27 |
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Which does nto mean "do not try"
By: timmy on Mon, 24 March 2003 13:07 |
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Yes indeed
By: e on Mon, 24 March 2003 21:52 |
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I agree....
By: Guest on Mon, 24 March 2003 23:03 |
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I was not refering to efforts and encouragement.....
By: Guest on Mon, 24 March 2003 22:59 |
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Re: I was not refering to efforts and encouragement.....
By: rbryce on Tue, 25 March 2003 06:41 |
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I agree. And yet intransigence can be cured, eventually
By: timmy on Tue, 25 March 2003 08:34 |
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Re: Speaks For Itself. This teen has real guts...
By: rbryce on Thu, 27 March 2003 20:27 |
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