5/2/08
On April 23, 2008, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a federal District Court's preliminary injunction that prevented a student from wearing a t-shirt to school that read "Be Happy, Not Gay."
In Zamecnik v. Indian Prairie School District #204, an Illinois federal District Court held that a local school district could likely require students to cover the "Be Happy, Not Gay" message on a t-shirt worn to school, and entered a preliminary injunction preventing students from wearing the shirt. The District Court found that the school could prohibit students' negative speech about homosexuality as part of its pedagogical mission to promote tolerance of student differences and suggested that public schools have a duty to protect minority groups from harassing conduct, and to protect gay students from psychological and physical harm.
The Seventh Circuit reversed the lower court's decision in Nuxoll v. Indian Prairie School District #204. The Court first recognized that public schools may forbid speech that "might reasonably lead school officials to forecast substantial disruptions" such as speech that "will lead to a decline in students' test scores, an upsurge in truance, or other symptoms of a sick school." While the Court further noted that a school is not "required to prove that unless the speech at issue is forbidden serious consequences will in fact ensue," it concluded that the school in this case failed to show that the t-shirt might have any such effect.
The Court noted that the message "Be Happy, Not Gay" is "only tepidly negative" and that the school's conclusion that the t-shirt might provoke a disruption, or poison the educational atmosphere was "highly speculative."
The Court of Appeals decision in this case emphasizes that a school district's oversight and censorship of student speech has its limits. Administrators may censor speech, but only in an effort to prevent a substantial disruption at school. While this decision is significant, First Amendment questions are always very fact-specific and must be considered on a case-by-case basis.
