A federal appeals court last week decided not to reconsider a controversial ruling that upheld a California school district鈥檚 decision to bar T-shirts with slogans that 鈥渄enigrate鈥� gay and lesbian students. The July 31 decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, in San Francisco, not to rehear the case prompted a sharp dissent by five of the court鈥檚 judges.
鈥淸I]f displaying a distasteful opinion on a T-shirt qualifies as a psychological or verbal assault, school administrators have virtually unfettered discretion to ban any student speech they deem offensive or intolerant,鈥� said the dissenting opinion by U.S. Circuit Judge Diarmuid F. O鈥橲cannlain.
In April, a panel of the 9th Circuit court ruled 2-1 that the 33,000-student Poway, Calif., school district could bar T-shirts with slogans such as 鈥淗omosexuality is shameful.鈥� The majority said schools need not tolerate verbal assaults that could interfere with the educational development of gay teenagers. A student, Tyler Chase Harper, had worn such a shirt to school in 2004 the day after some students had participated in a gay-rights event at Poway High School. (鈥淯.S. Court Backs School鈥檚 Decision to Bar Student鈥檚 Anti-Gay T-Shirt,鈥� May 3, 2006.)
Tim Chandler, a lawyer with the Alliance Defense Fund, a Scottsdale, Ariz.-based legal organization that is representing the student, said the group was evaluating whether to appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
