Source: Naperville Sun and Chicago Daily Herald
Naperville, Ill. -- Attorneys for a Neuqua Valley High School student fighting the school's ruling that he cannot wear an anti-gay T-shirt are hoping the third time will be the charm.
Twice, Neuqua sophomore Alexander Nuxoll has filed for an injunction that would suspend "the school's policy that allows speech in favor of homosexual conduct, but bans speech critical of homosexual conduct," said his attorney, the Alliance Defense Fund's Jonathan Scruggs.
And twice now courts have denied that request -- the latest instance coming Dec. 21 when U.S. District Judge William T. Hart declined to issue a temporary injunction that would have ordered school officials to allow Nuxoll to wear the shirt this April for the "Day of Truth."
Nuxoll and his legal counsel are now set to seek an appeal of these decisions.
"We hope to have an expedited review and have a decision from the Seventh Circuit vindicating our client's rights before the (April 25) Day of Silence so that he can speak and express his viewpoint then," Scruggs said.
The "Day of Truth" is a response by conservative groups to an annual "Day of Silence" during which students wear T-shirts and remain silent to show their support of gay and lesbian students.
Sponsored by the school's Gay/Straight Alliance, "Day of Silence" is intended to "echo" the silence that students who are gay face all the time. During the Day of Silence, students often wear written messages on shirts, buttons and stickers showing their support of peers who are gay.
Hart said Nuxoll's free-speech rights were not irreparably harmed because the school has agreed to let him wear a shirt with an alternative message which is not considered derogatory of any group.
The district offered to allow Nuxoll to wear a T-shirt that says "Be happy, be straight," but Scruggs said that message doesn't express opposition to homosexuality.
"It's definitely not the same thing," he said.
Last year, Nuxoll and then-senior Heidi Zamecnik filed suit against Indian Prairie Unit District 204 after Zamecnik was forced in April 2006 to edit her "Be Happy, Not Gay" T-shirt. An administrator blacked out the "Not Gay" portion. The school has a policy that prohibits derogatory speech.
The two students sought a preliminary injunction in time for the 2007 "Day of Truth." But Hart ruled against them, in part citing the fact that they had waited almost an entire year until just before the "Day of Truth" to file, thereby needlessly creating an artificial deadline.
This year, Nuxoll and his lawyers from the Alliance Defense Fund sought the preliminary injunction months ago, negating that argument.
Zamecnik has since graduated, but Nuxoll, now a sophomore, and the Alliance Defense Fund are still trying to suspend the school's policy on these T-shirts until the students' federal court case can be settled.
"The (school) board and school administrators have engaged in a considerable effort to create a positive and tolerant school environment with an emphasis on respectful attitudes and discourse," Federal Judge William T. Hart said last year initial ruling in favor of the district.
And then-District 204 Superintendent Howie Crouse said the court's decision noted the district was not trying to suppress the plantiff's views, but was "favoring tolerance," which the court determined was "... a reasonable promotion of the school's basic educational mission."
Alliance Defense Fund attorneys disagree with this reasoning.
"It's our view point, and the Supreme Court has ruled numerous times, that students don't lose their Constitutional right to free speech when they enter into the schoolhouse gate," Scruggs said. And in this situation ... the school has engaged in blatant viewpoint discrimination against our client, a student, just singling out his viewpoint for censorship but allowing other views."
Full article: Anti-gay T-shirt controversy continues in court :: Naperville Sun :: News
Student told again not to wear anti-gay T-shirt | Chicago Daily Herald