The Day of Silence is an annual event where LGBTQ students and supporters stay silent for an entire school day to protest anti-gay bullying, harassment, and disrimination in school. The day is sometimes promoted by the school, but often just tolerated as an exercise in Free Speech (an exercise in free speech that will get them bad press and may result in lawsuits if they don't comply). Last April, one day after her Naperville school's Day of Silence, Heidi Zamecnik decided to exercise her First Amendment rights by wearing a shirt that said "Be Happy, Not Gay". In a decision that could only be described as half-assed and unsatisfactory to all parties involved, a counselor was ordered to cross out the words "not gay" with a permanent marker, so that Heidi spent the day walking around in an ugly shirt that said "Be Happy". Heidi has since formally requested to wear a similar shirt after this year's Day of Silence. Heidi is suing the school for denying the request, violating her civil rights to free expression and equal protection and, presumably, for ruining her shirt. While most of the press has focused on Heidi, another student, Freshman Alexander Nuxoll, has been named in the case as well.
Just three days before the story came out, the ACLU urged the Supreme Court to uphold their 1969 decisicion, stating that students do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.” Their statement came in support of Joseph Frederick, who is suing a school for suspending him five years ago, for wearing a shirt that said "Bong Hits 4 Jesus". The difference in the cases, of course, is that one shirt is discriminatory and one is just tacky (possibly offensive to Christians and Straight Edgers, but not really discriminatory). They have yet to release a comment on the Naperville case. The Zamecnik's and Nuxoll's suit is being handled by the Alliance Defense Fund, a conservative organization dedicated to "defending religious liberty" (meaning that when "Freedom of Speech" goes up against "The Separation of Church and State", they choose freedom of speech, which would be fairly noble except for the fact that the only religion they'll defend is Christianity).
One of the ADF's founders is James C. Dobson, famous for his many TV appearances as head of the ultraconservative group Focus on th Family. Since 2005, The ADF has tried to establish the day after The Day of Silence as The Day of Truth, kind of a counterpoint. The ADF also claims on their website, some victories regarding Free Speech cases of students barred from holding an event called The Pro-Life Day of Silent Solidarity, but after extensive googling, I can't say for sure whether this day actually exists. I could find a website and a MySpace site, but no articles by credible news organizations (there were many articles but each one of them was on a blog or website with a stated Conservative focus). Similarly, I found no court transcripts or decisions, no Wikipedia entry and no one speaking out against it, which is especially damning considering that there is someone speaking out against everything on the internet.
I would just like to exercise my free speech right here to say that Heidi and Alexander should get to wear their shirts. I would also like to say that they are spoiled brats who think that life is really hard for rich, straight, White people. I think she should get to wear the shirt, but I also think that her classmates should have the same right to wear shirts that say "Be Happy, not some cunt ass idiots like Heidi Zamecnik and Alexander Nuxoll".
Tribune take
247 gay take
Christian take (with picture of the shirt)
Legal precedent to ban the shirt
Chicagoist take, with other t-shirt banning examples
ACLU to Supreme Court
Day of Silence
ADFDay of Truth
-E.L.R.
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2 comments:
Straight rich white people are getting a bad rap these days! ;)
Hey if you plan any further coverage of the anti-gay "Day of Truth" this year I wanted to bring your attention to a Youtube video I made examining some of the more troubling aspects of the Day of Truth -- Specifically how the DOT is little more than a thinly veiled attempt to promote "pray away the gay" programs to queer youth.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HI4-eDG3Bb0
This video covers the little discussed founding of the DOT by Tyler Chase Harper, a high-schooler who told his gay classmates they should be ashamed and are condemned by God. The video also reveals a great deal of troubling material on the DOT's website including information discussing anal sex, bathhouses and a fake medical condition made up by the anti-gay right called "gay bowel syndrome." Some of this material is furnished by Mission America, an organization that actually includes in it's mission statement the need to defend the nation against witchcraft.
-Dan Gonzales
(I myself am a survivor of one of the "ex-gay" programs promoted by the Day of Truth)
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