"gay? fine by me" contested
 

Students tell of tension on gay tolerance day


'Gay shirts' outnumbered by those with 'God shirts' at Homewood-Flossmoor


Wednesday, April 20, 2005



By Kati Phillips
Staff writer
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A student-led effort to oppose homophobia at Homewood-Flossmoor High School may have backfired Tuesday when hundreds of students donned shirts with Christian and anti-gay slogans.

Student activists who wore shirts emblazoned with the words "gay? fine by me" said they were outnumbered by peers wearing hateful messages and were targeted for harassment.

The T-shirt drive was intended to create a safe place for gay students and to put a human face on gays, lesbians and their allies.

But student journalists covering the event described the atmosphere as "tense."

"It was crazy. There were all these students with gay shirts and God shirts," said student newspaper reporter Joe Maloney. "In my first-period class, debate class, there were way more God shirts."

Chelsea Lavin, a broadcast student, was more pragmatic."People that you normally would say 'Hi' to in the halls were wearing shirts opposite of you, so you looked in the opposite direction," she said.

Alissa Norby, one of the T-shirt day's organizers, said she didn't know whether to define the project as a success or failure.

"If I was still in the closet and came to school (Tuesday) and saw hundreds of kids wearing anti-gay shirts, I'd probably go home crying and begging my parents to let me transfer," she said.

Students estimated more than 100 students wore anti-homophobia shirts, and more than 200 students wore shirts that listed "Crimes committed against God." The crimes included the elimination of school prayer and separation of church and state, but did not include anything about homosexuality.

Other male students wrote slogans on white T-shirts such as "I hate gay people" and "Gay? Not fine by me (unless you're a lesbian)" and "Gay? More chicks for me," students said.

The anti-gay messages effectively canceled out the anti-homophobia shirts, said H-F senior and gay activist Jamison Liang.

"Whenever you made eye contact with people wearing the opposition shirts, you could feel the tension," he said.

This was the second year that students promoted gay acceptance with a T-shirt day. Last year, about 100 students wore "gay? fine by me" shirts to school with little opposition. This year, organizers expanded the effort and got permission to promote and sell the shirts at school.

The "gay? fine by me" campaign is being promoted at schools nationwide. It started at Duke University in 2003.

Jacques Jacobs, youth pastor at Family Harvest Church in Orland Park, seized the opportunity to oppose the movement this year and gave away shirts with "Crimes committed against God" slogan to students.

"Many people feel that the most discriminated group of all is the Christian student in the public high school," Jacobs said.

Homewood-Flossmoor High School spokesman David Thieman said administrators allowed the students to wear shirts promoting and opposing gays on the same day. He said no disruptions were reported to the administration.

"It was a normal day," he said. "Business as usual."

But organizer Myka Held said she reported two boys for taunting her by saying "gays would burn in hell." She said her dean made one boy apologize and promised to speak with the second boy today.

Students also claimed teachers were reprimanded for distributing shirts with Christian messages.

"This was the first time I felt unsafe in school," said Held, who is straight.

The event's organizers got permission Tuesday from the student council to recognize the school's gay support group as a club. Club status will allow the group to hold the T-shirt day next year without opposition, Norby said.

But for now, she thinks the school will return to normal.

"(Though) it depends on what you define as normal," Norby said.

"If you mean go back to hateful people and judgmental people, with an undercurrent of racism, sexism and homophobia, yes, we'll go back to normal."

FLOSSMORE High School?! What is it, a pre-dent high school?

LOL Flossmoor is a south suburb of Chicago.

I can't believe parents would let their kids wear such hateful shirts to school. That's sad.

LOL - I honestly was about to call shenanigans!

I don't have kids nor am I a lesbian, but, if my kid tried to put on a shirt that had hateful messages towards others I would kick their tail from here to next century. Granted, I believe in the First Amendment, but I also believe that you have to maintain some kind of decorum and responsibility when handling any of the freedoms Americans have. Plus, as long as the kids were living in my home, etc., they would rather treat people as they would want to be treated themselves or discover a whole new side of anger when they came across me.

Maybe this day wasn't as successful as the organizers had hoped it would be, but when I was in high school in the middle eighties no one would have ever dreamed of creating a gay tolerance day. Now, schools throughout the country have them.

Maybe the general attitude towards gays isn't changing as quickly as they would like, but it is changing.

ztawinthropgirl: excellent post, by the way :)

thanks KillarneyRose! :) :D

Re: "gay? fine by me" contested
 

Jacques sounds like a french name. Dosent the far right still hate the french? Do you think they know they have a frenchie in their midsts. We should tell them.

Re: Re: "gay? fine by me" contested
 

Stupid flag surrending froggies. You know the far right hated les miserables.

Re: Re: Re: "gay? fine by me" contested
 

I hate les miserables. Why do people like musicals? I hate musicals. Why can't people just say what they want to say without singing it?

-Rudey

I hated the play Les Miserables. It was waaaay to long and my feet fell asleep by the end.

The book was okay but it wasn't what you'd call a light read.

I don't think high schools are good places for political expression. These kids don't have first amendment rights there. What was the administration thinking?

It is rather disturbing that such a high proportion of people think that hating others for something so trivial is okay.

Of course, I think the constitutional amendment against gay marriage in my state passed with around 77% of the vote, so maybe this school is a place that I would find to be progressive compared to home?

Tinker vs. Des Moines

eh, I'm tepid on this statement - from Tinker v. Des Moines:

". . . In the absence of a specific showing of constitutionally valid reasons to regulate their speech, students are entitled to freedom of expression of their views."

— Justice Fortas, speaking for the majority

In most readings, 'constitutionally valid' does include the students' safety, as well.


I completely agree with this, however - especially with regard to high school kids. Seriously, when did it become 'cool' to hate people based on something you'll probably never have to interact with, unless you want to? It boggles my mind.

1. In wearing armbands, the petitioners were quiet and passive. They were not disruptive and did not impinge upon the rights of others. In these circumstances, their conduct was within the protection of the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment and the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth. Pp. 505-506.

2. First Amendment rights are available to teachers and students, subject to application in light of the special characteristics of the school environment. Pp. 506-507.

3. A prohibition against expression of opinion, without any evidence that the rule is necessary to avoid substantial interference with school discipline or the rights of others, is not permissible under the First and Fourteenth Amendments. Pp. 507-514.

As for this act, it sounds like something that as an administrator, I would have considered it posed a significant danger of getting out of control.

It would have appeared to me that there would have been a substantial interferance with school discipline and the rights of others. However, it is a real credit to the kids and the adminstration that this didn't get out of hand and escalate into something more than a peaceful statement of tolerance or hate.