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Students Punished for “That’s So Gay” Comments
Ironically Rebekah Rice, a student at Santa Rosa’s Maria Carillo High School, was herself being harassed by other students because of her religious beliefs, when she was sent to the principal’s office for using the phrase “that’s so gay” in response to her tormentors. Because of her speech, Rice was given a warning and a notation was put in her file.
Rice contends that her words were not meant as a homophobic putdown. The phrase “that’s so gay” is used every day on playgrounds throughout America. Rice questions how her words can be considered hate speech when there was no malice and “that’s so gay” is a phrase “which enjoys widespread currency in youth culture.”
A lawsuit has been filed against the school by Rice’s parents for violation of their daughter’s First Amendment free speech rights.
In Fresno a fourth-grade student at Gibson Elementary School has been suspended because he said “that’s gay” during a soccer game. The student in question is not normally a trouble maker on campus. Another student at Gibson was also sent to the principal’s office for uttering similar words.
“It's one thing to teach kids to be respectful; it's something else entirely to enact a regime where only positive viewpoints of homosexuality are allowed, and that's what we’re concerned about here,” said Matthew McReynolds, an attorney with Pacific Justice Institute. “This sounds a lot like the thought police are back on the prowl in our public schools.”
Judicial Reform
With Liberty and Justice for Sale?
By RANDY BRINSON
Isn't it amazing how changing a few letters in one word of our sacred pledge of allegiance has a dramatic influence on its meaning? However, recent political history raises the question of whether our political course is truly for sale, or representative of the people of our great state.
Last week there was a gathering of Republican luminaries at the club in Birmingham to "roast" former chief justice Perry Hooper, Sr. During the festive evening, one presenter after another extols numerous personal stories about the chief justice and the significant changes his term brought to the Alabama Supreme Court.
One of the most significant changes that occurred was the dramatic change in the partisan representation of the court. Since 1994, the appellant courts have moved from a Democratic majority to a Republican majority, with 18 of the appealing and Supreme Court seats now held by Republicans. While many of the Republican Party hailed these achievements, the question that frequently arises is, at what cost did these victories occur and who are holding the IOUs?
As seen in the Mobile Register:
On the Other Side of the Courtroom
Dr. Randy Brinson, Montgomery, AL 36111
Lawyers. They are the brunt of our jokes and some of the most vilified people in society. Attorneys perennially rank next to politicians and used car salesmen as the least trusted professionals, and we dread ever needing them.
As if public opinion could get any worse, the Christian Coalition has climbed onto the bandwagon against them. The latest Christian Coalition mailing declares, “Lawyers are filing frivolous lawsuits across America to remove God from our schools and court houses, impose gay marriage on society, and force churches and religious not-for-profits to accept homosexuality.”
After seeing the Ninth Circuit rule the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional, after enduring Ramsey Clark’s defense of Saddam Hussein, and after witnessing a few high profile criminal defense attorneys appearing on talk shows calling for reduced penalties for alleged child molesters such as Michael Jackson, it is easy for the faith community to see the law profession through a “dark lense”.
However, there are two sides to every courtroom. Though it is true that there are liberal lawyers as well as public policy institutions who promote this anti-Christian agenda, there are also attorneys that stand against them and defend Christian values.
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