Utterly Meaningless

Why was being gay his campaign platform in the first place? His sexual orientation need not be on his campaign posters.. I think free speech is not the issue here.. I think the issue is irrelevant and inappropriate actions of this young person in the first place..

I find more and more that gay folks want us not to make a big deal out of their sexual preferences and yet they are the ones that make it an issue. No one cares whether this kid is gay or not, but making it an issue is distasteful and inappropriate. I think this is more the school’s issue.

What the heck kind of message are they teaching these kids in the first place? That sexuality somehow has a bearing on whether one is qualified for an elected position?

Maybe its ok if we see campaign posters that say “vote for Jane, She puts out regularly..” rather than “vote for Jane she has brains and can do the job”

Students at public schools do not have the same free speech protections as the rest of the public. The Supreme Court recognizes that school officials need to be able to control the student body, and thus may have to act in a manner which which on the surface violates the First Amendment.

That being said, a person’s sexuality is irrelevant. I don’t see the harm in allowing the student to mention he is gay. Who Cares.

Judy,
I think he was just trying to get some attention for his campaign in a light-hearted way. I’m certain that his posters were not disrupting the school. That’s just a lazy educrat’s way of suppressing something he doesn’t like. The ACLU is on the case; I bet they win.

Leslie Cooper, an ACLU attorney, wrote in a letter to the school Monday. “The Supreme Court has made it clear that students do not shed their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse gate.”

Yeah, whatever. Try amendments 2 and 4 on for size. You up for keeping and bearing arms in the classroom (or any state property for that matter)? How about in my vehicle?

This is also why I can’t make the Libertarian leap. Liberties with no standards or limits (read morals) to me becomes simply anarchy. The kid has the “right to free speech”. I don’t agree he does on public state property in a school setting. As a user of those facilities, you give up a lot of “rights” (keep and bear arms, search and seizure, freedom of expression – whether clothes, hair, body piercings, profanity, etc.).

If this kid had been allowed to keep the posters up, and I were running against him, I’d have simply made posters proudly proclaiming my heterosexuality.