Priya- i see your point, yet I question whether calling something a sin is denigrating. … as i type that, it sounds horrible… but hear me out.

what I am getting at is that, if that is someone’s belief, that’s their belief. it’s not reality.

if someone wore a shirt that said “Eating Cows is Bad Kharma” or “Sunday Shoppers Defile the Sabbath. Repent Sinners,” would that be equally denigrating?

Can you help me make sense of this?

Tina free speech isn’t a mandate of schools. Schools routinely restrict free speech to ensure a safe effective learning environment. So while a “gayness is a sin” t-shirt would be covered under free speech, a school is not obligated to allow such denigrating speech.

I don’t know why, but your comments with the link were caught in the spam filter. I approved one.

I was trying to include a link (triggered the spam filter) to the ACLU’s page on hate speech.

David & gang- a shirt with “Homosexuality is a Sin”, as I understand it, would be covered under free speech.

I see nothing that excludes speech that is “denigrating” or “rejecting” from protection under the 1st Amendment.

Please correct me if I’m mistaken.

My question: what is it about a “Homosexuality is a Sin” shirt that wld be a problem?

Can you articulate that for me?

just post one of them. take your pick.

muchas gracias

It does work both ways. That shirt would be covered under freedom of speech.

http://www.aclu.org/free-speech/hate-speech-campus

Priya & Leo- help me out, I’m not an expert on free speech, but it’s not my understanding that acceptance/rejection or denigration are factors in freedom of speech. (unless it’s a one-on-one interaction that is taken as “fighting words”)

I’m not trying to be a pain. I think it’s important that we actually know the extent of our(and others’)rights.

Well a T-shirt advocating gay marriage is not denigrating or attacking anyone. Unless you’re in that school of thought that believes any pro-gay statement is somehow, by it’s very nature, a direct attack on others ie Christians.

Implying that someone is a sinner is, ahem, pretty denigrating.

If she wore a t-shirt that claimed that anyone who is opposed to gay marriage is an inbred bigot then that would be denigrating and not probably not appropriate.