ACLU Stands Up for Teen Suspended for Lesbian T-Shirt

A Virginia high schooler who wore a T-shirt showing two linked female-gender sigils was punished under a school policy forbidding "bawdy, sexually suggestive, or salacious messages" on clothing; now the ACLU has demanded that the school in question remove the suspension from the student's record and guarantee not to interfere illegally in students' first amendment rights to free expression.

The Advocate.com reported today (www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid51247.asp) 17-year-old Bethany Laccone was pulled out of class and suspended on Dec. 10 for the shirt, which bore no written message, but displayed two overlapping "Venus" symbols, understood in contemporary culture to refer to lesbian couples.

The school's assistant principal upheld the teacher's decision to remove Laccone from class because, the assistant principal explained, the teacher was "very conservative" and found the shirt to be so troubling that she could not focus completely on teaching the class.

The ACLU has issued a request to Laccone's high school that the suspension be deleted from her record, on the grounds that she was improperly punished.

In a statement, Laccone said, "When my teacher told me she wanted me to turn my shirt inside out or cover it up, I was confused, because I've worn that shirt to school several times before and nobody ever said a word about it."

Continued Laccone, "I wear that shirt because I want people to know that I'm proud of being a lesbian and comfortable with who I am."

Added Laccone, "And I have the same constitutional right to free speech as any other student."

The high school where the incident took place, I. C. Norcom, is not Laccone's full-time high school; she attends I. C. Norcom in the mornings to take a class in hotel management, according to an ACLU press release, The Advocate reported.

ACLU staff attorney Christine Sun said, "A public school teacher's job is to serve the needs of all the students who go to that school."

Added Sun, "If a teacher can't deal with the fact that there are gay students in her classroom, that doesn't mean she gets to violate that student's First Amendment rights."

The story was also carried by Southern Voice.com (www.southernvoice.com/blog/index.cfm?end=12/22/07&start=12/15/07), which provided a link to a photo of Laccone wearing the so-called "bawdy, sexually suggestive, or salacious" T-shirt in question.

Earlier this week, is was reported that the ACLU filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the case of a man charged in Oregon under a so-called "fighting words" state law for bellowing anti-gay slurs through a bullhorn at two women in a car that moved in front of his pickup in congested traffic.