T-Shirt Wars Continue as Birmingham School Lifts Ban

T-shirts emblazoned with pro- and anti-gay slogans have become a new front in the war over GLBT visibility and acceptance in American culture. In the latest development, a Birmingham, Alabama, school has reversed itself and allowed a student to wear a shirt with the slogan "gay? fine by me."

Initially, Hoover High School, located in the Birmingham suburb of Hoover, told the student, Sara Couvillon, 15, that she would not be allowed to wear the shirt because it could place her at risk.

But the student had worn the same shirt on numerous occasions and never been harassed or threatened for its positive and supportive message, reported local newspaper the Birmingham News on Sept. 1.

School staff also told Couvillon that the shirt was unacceptable because it was a form of "advertising," though of what goods or services was unclear.

The Southern Poverty Law Center threatened to sue the school, saying that Couvillon has a First Amendment right to wear the shirt.

Initially, the principal of Hoover High School, Don Hulin, sought to uphold the school's position by releasing a statement saying that students were free to exercise their free speech rights ""unless such expression disrupts the learning environment or deprives the rights of others," the Birmingham News reported on Aug. 31.

"At Hoover High School, we have a tradition and practice of respecting the rights of students to exercise all of their Constitutional entitlements," Hulin said in the Aug. 31 statement. "We are fortunate to have a diversified student body and we work very diligently to encourage a culture of tolerance and understanding.

"In the tradition of the United States Supreme Court case, Tinker v. Des Moines, students at Hoover High School exercise their First Amendment rights without restriction unless such expression disrupts the learning environment or deprives the rights of others," the statement continued.

That same day, Hulin sent out the statement once more, but with an additional paragraph.

"Our dress code at Hoover High School is designed to facilitate the learning environment that is so important to our school," the revised statement read. "The T-shirt at issue has not caused a substantial disruption and the student will be allowed to wear it."

The SPLC letter had informed the school's officials that a suit stemming from a similar case, Gillman v. School Board for Holmes County, Florida, had resulted in a $325,000 payout by a Florida school district.

"The letter also said that even if other students reacted disruptively to Couvillon's T-shirt, case law has established that school officials have a duty to punish the disruptive students, not to prohibit a student's protected speech," the Birmingham News reported.

"We are incredibly happy that the officials at Hoover High School acted so quickly to restore the rights of this brave student," said a lawyer with the SPLC, Sam Wolfe. "However, while the outcome is a good one, it is unfortunate that this fundamental right was denied in the first place."

Couvillon also issued a statement.

"This was not just about me," the 15-year-old student said. "It was about encouraging people to be brave in standing up for themselves and standing up for their rights."

"It's very important that students be able to make these sort of statements," Wolfe told the press. "This is an important freedom that we are willing to fight for."

Readers at the site where the Birmingham News article was posted expressed a range of views, with some arguing that Christian slogans should also be permitted under the same standards, and others agreeing with them but saying that such messages would be acceptable as long as they were supportive in nature, rather than demeaning.

"What if a Hoover student wore a shirt that said: 'Gay guy? You're 44x more likely to contract HIV,' " one posting read. "Would the SPLC defend their right to freedom of speech? I bet they would, but someone should test it just to make sure."

"Actually they have exactly the same chances as any straight person practicing unprotected sex," responded another posting. "Of course, if you include lesbians in the mix of 'gay' they have less of a chance."

"Now I reaally wanna see a whole slew of new & interesting '_____? fine by me' shirts popping up all over campus," another contributor wrote. "Now that this can 'o worms is open, let 'em crawl!"

One individual shared a list of possible T-shirt slogans, including "I HATE THE SPLC," "I HATE stupid T-shirts," "I don't make up gods to believe in," "I don't hate thrift stores," "Gays: stay out of my way and I will stay out of yours," and "I HATE spineless school boards backing down to the SPLC."

Rejoined another, "I'd say there's a noticable difference in your t-shirt ideas and the one above. Specifically the choice to convey a negative ('hate') message rather than a positive one. The thrift store shirt would be the only one to not contain a hate/negative/stay away message out of all your 'ideas.'

" 'Jesus loves you' would be just fine," added the respondent. "How about you start with that?"

"A shirt that says 'I am a Christian' or 'Jesus loves you' isn't at all controversial," wrote in another. "Neither is a shirt with a crucifix.

"A shirt that says, 'Got hates [insert whatever here]' is," added the posting. "A shirt with a flag that isn't even the correct Confederate flag (look up your history, people) is [controversial] because of what it represents."

"My son who is a senior told me that he and a few of this friends are thinking about having some shirts made with 'queer? stay away! " wrote another individual. "He believes that in your face political correctness is out of control here and must be challenged. He anticipates getting in trouble but says that rules should apply to all and is willing to pay the price based on principle.

"By the way, he has never bashed gays or lesbians," the posting added. "His words: 'Do what you want in your bedroom, not mine!' "

Replied another, "Your son has gay people breaking into his bedroom to have sex? You might want to start putting locks on the windows!"

A History of Sloganeering

The T-shirt wars have been ongoing for some time. In 2007 Heather Farnham, then 16 and a student at Spender-Van Etten High School in Spencer, NY, was sent home by the school principal, Ann Sincock, for wearing a shirt bearing with the words, "gay? fine by me."

Farnham recalled the incident in the article, saying, "The principal came up to me at lunch and said it was inappropriate and disruptive," after which Farnham went home. However, said Farnham, "No one was screaming or yelling about it; I wouldn't call it disruptive."

Jim Young, an attorney for the school board, later acknowledged that Sincock had misconstrued the law that enables school authorities to send students home from wearing garb that might create a disturbance, according to a Nov. 1, 2007, article posted at the Student Press Law Center.

"The young lady had a right to wear it," Young said.

Also in 2007, a Virginia high schooler, Bethany Laccone, was punished for wearing a T-shirt showing two linked female-gender sigils when a politically conservative teacher complained that the shirt troubled her.

Laccone was disciplined under a school policy forbidding "bawdy, sexually suggestive, or salacious messages" on clothing. The ACLU represented Laccone in trying to have the student's record expunged, and have the school's policy amended in a way that would guarantee no illegal interference in students' first amendment rights to free expression.

Advocate.com reported on Dec. 21, 2007, that Laccone, then 17, was pulled out of class and suspended on Dec. 10 of that year for the shirt, which bore no written message, but displayed two overlapping "Venus" symbols, understood in contemporary culture to refer to lesbian couples.

In a statement, Laccone said, "When my teacher told me she wanted me to turn my shirt inside out or cover it up, I was confused, because I've worn that shirt to school several times before and nobody ever said a word about it."

Continued Laccone, "I wear that shirt because I want people to know that I'm proud of being a lesbian and comfortable with who I am." Added Laccone, "And I have the same constitutional right to free speech as any other student."

Students who have worn anti-gay T-shirts to school have also stirred up controversy, and, like their pro-gay counterparts, have been exonerated under the First Amendment.

In April of 2008, two Chicago suburb students who had worn T-shirts reading "Be Happy, Not Gay" to school, with the result that the shirts were banned. Neuqua Valley High School students Alexander Nuxoll and Heidi Zamecnik were represented by attorneys from the Alliance Defense Fund, an anti-gay Christian legal group. A federal appeals court upheld the students' right to wear the shirts, the Associated Press reported on April 25, 2008.

"The court's ruling is a victory for all students seeking to protect their First Amendment rights on a school campus," ADF attorney Nate Kellum said after the verdict. "Public school officials cannot censor a message expressing one viewpoint on homosexual behavior and then at the same time allow messages that express another viewpoint."

But the rights of just what slogans students can wear on T-shirts at school remains contentious. On March 5, 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against a San Diego man, Tyler Chase Harper, who had brought suit against Poway Unified School District after Harper was taken out of class for wearing a T-shirt sporting a strip of masking tape on the front bearing the slogan "Homosexuality is shameful." On the back, more masking tape carried the message, "Be ashamed. Our school has embraced what God has condemned."

But the court's ruling was not on the message itself; rather, the court found against Harper because he had already graduated, and as an alumnus of the school -- and no longer a student -- he was not entitled to sue in order to change the school's policies, the AP reported on March 7, 2007.

The Supreme Court also overruled an appellate court's finding that the T-shirt's message had been "injurious to gay and lesbian students and interfered with their right to learn," however.

Only a few months later, on June 29, 20078, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Zachary Guiles, a student who had been disciplined by Williamstown Middle School in 2004 for wearing a shirt criticizing then-President George W. Bush.

Not Just for Kids!

The T-shirt wars are not restricted to high school, as juvenile as the issue might seem.

Throughout the GLBT civil rights struggle, T-shirts have been a colorful and even witty way of boiling down the concerns of sexual minorities, as well as retorting to popular and widespread, though often erroneous, stereotypes and myths. "Marriage is So Gay" is only a recent example; some tried-and-true slogans include the now-classic "Nobody Knows I'm Gay" and "Silence = Death." Graffiti artist Keith Haring helped bring legitimacy to both the gay equality message and his form of art with drawings that were featured on T-shirts, including the famed illustration used for National Coming Out Day.

But anti-gay messages have been just as pointed. In the mid-1990s, a T-shirts that depicted a cartoon character from a brand of cereal, along with the slogan, "Silly Faggot -- Dicks Are for Chicks!" provoked a measure of controversy.

Though T-shirts in the public domain, like bumper stickers, represent an array of political and religious beliefs surrounding human sexuality and relationships, in certain circumstances the hall monitors of the adult world exercise censorious control over individuals sporting attire that broadcasts such speech.

In 2008, a man named David Cano had his guest membership canceled for wearing a T-shirt reading, "I Need a Man or A Date. Serious Inquiries Only." The gym, the California Family Fitness Center, said that wearing the T-shirt on its premises constituted "disorderly conduct" on Cano's part.

Members complained about the shirt, and the management phoned Cano to ask him to refrain from wearing the shirts to the facility. Cano refused, said Russ Kuhn, the company's co-president. "His response was he was going to wear it anyway and we'd have to drag him out," according to Kuhn.

In response, the club canceled Cano's guest pass. Said Kuhn, "We didn't want him making a scene at the club," and added, "If somebody's not willing to follow the rules, they're not entitled to use the facilities."

Cano saw the matter differently. To him, it was an issue of free speech and of discrimination against gays.

"If it was a straight woman who wore that shirt, straight guys wouldn't have a problem with it," Cano said.

More recently, a lesbian couple who were headed into Dollywood with their family was told that one of the women would have to turn her T-shirt, which carried the message "Marriage is So Gay," inside out before she could enter the park.

Olivier Odom was told that Dollywood was a "family park."

"That's what we found so offensive -- that he said it was a family park," Odom's spouse, Jennifer Tipton, told the media. "Families come in a wide range of definitions these days and we were with our family."

Odom said they understand the park can have dress code policies, but she felt Dollywood needed to make their policies clear and provide better training for employees when determining what is considered offensive.

Odom complied with the order and reversed her shirt, but then wrote a letter of complaint. The couple said they felt they needed to file a complaint with Dollywood because they believed it was important to stand up for their beliefs in marriage equality.

"If marriage equality is going to happen, it's not going to happen if people sit at home quietly," Odom said.

Country and Western star Dolly Parton, who has been supportive of GLBT equality in the past, issued an apology in the wake of the controversy that followed.

Meantime, the public airing of political and religious views regarding sexual minorities continues, and T-shirts sporting both pro- and anti-gay messages have become big business. Online vendor Cafe Press offers T-shirts for both sides of the debate, including classics from the anti-gay side of the debate such as "Adam & Eve, Not Adam & Steve" and "Diversity Sucks."