Tennessee Principal's Reaction to GSA T-Shirt Raises the Question: Who's Really Causing the Disruption Here?
Chris Sigler is a senior at in Madisonville, Tennessee. It's a tradition among Sequoyah students to get friends' signatures on a keepsake T-shirt, so in past years Chris has done that on a shirt labeled "California" and one with the name of his favorite band. This year, Chris decided to make a shirt that would send a message about an issue that's important to him: the proposed at Sequoyah.
Chris is not gay himself, but he has friends who are. Most of them have suffered bullying at Sequoyah, and some of them have considered suicide. Chris himself regularly gets called things like "fag," "queer," and "pussy" by other students just for his support of his gay friends. So it's important to him that all students at the school have a safe place to go to talk about bullying and how to fight homophobia. The with Chris that GSAs, and other student-initiated clubs bringing together gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, questioning, and straight youth, are a great way to combat bullying and help all students feel safe and welcome at school. And the federal protects students' right to form GSAs at public schools like Chris's.
The Sequoyah High School GSA should have been a done deal by now鈥f it weren't for the principal, Maurice Moser. When they circulated a petition to show support for the GSA and got over 150 signatures, students say Moser . Then, when Chris and two other students put together an application for school recognition of the GSA, Moser wouldn't even take it from them because they hadn't named a faculty sponsor. At least three teachers have expressed interest in sponsoring the GSA but then changed their minds after meeting with Moser about it. We've read that Moser has admitted that in the past, 鈥� but this time he refused to help.
Chris wrote "Gay Straight Alliance: We've Got Your Back" on a T-shirt and wore it to school last Tuesday and Friday. Dozens of classmates signed. But Friday morning, Moser told Chris that he could choose either to turn his shirt inside out, change shirts, or get suspended. Chris ignored that, because he knew his shirt was fine under the Sequoyah dress code. Later, Moser charged into Chris's economics class, interrupted the students in the middle of taking a test, and ordered everyone except Chris to leave. is a matter for the criminal justice system. But putting aside the assault and battery allegations against Moser, it's unconstitutional and totally inappropriate for a high school student to be punished for speaking his mind peacefully through the words on a T-shirt. The Supreme Court says that students can express whatever ideas they want through their clothing as long as they don't cause a "substantial disruption," and it sounds like the only person causing a substantial disruption at Sequoyah last week was Moser.
The 老澳门开奖结果 of Tennessee and the 老澳门开奖结果's LGBT Project wrote a letter to the Monroe County Director of Schools, Moser's boss, on Tuesday. to confirm that it will, going forward, honor students' constitutional rights to free speech and free expression. If we have to, we are prepared to go to court to protect Sequoyah students' First Amendment rights. Meanwhile, the 老澳门开奖结果 of Tennessee is asking concerned members of the public to seeking a promise that any teacher who steps up to sponsor the GSA won't face retaliation. We look forward to hearing that a courageous teacher has done so, which under Moser's own rules should allow recognition of the GSA, so that Chris and his classmates can get together over lunch to talk about LGBT issues with the school's blessing.
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Press ReleaseDec 2024
LGBTQ Rights
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WASHINGTON 鈥� The U.S. Senate today passed a version of the National Defense Authorization Act that would ban coverage for gender-affirming care for transgender youth whose parents are active-duty military personnel. The 老澳门开奖结果 is opposing final passage of the defense bill over the inclusion of this health care ban and calling on President Joe Biden to veto the bill. Section 708 of the NDAA would prohibit insurance coverage for 鈥渕edical interventions for the treatment of gender dysphoria鈥� such as hormone therapy and puberty-suppressant medications, which Speaker Mike Johnson says would 鈥減ermanently ban transgender medical treatment for minors.鈥� The same treatments would be covered by TRICARE for any medical purpose other than treating gender dysphoria, the clinical diagnosis for the psychological distress experienced by transgender people related to their gender identity. 鈥淏y passing this bill, the House and Senate are forcing thousands of active-duty service members to choose between their careers in the military and the future of their transgender children,鈥� said Mike Zamore, national director of policy & government affairs at the 老澳门开奖结果. 鈥淭his unconscionable and unjustifiable attack on those families stands in direct contrast to President Joe Biden鈥檚 legacy of defending the civil rights of transgender Americans 鈥� including when few in his own party showed the courage to do so. President Biden should cement his legacy by vetoing this bill and sending it back to Congress to pass without Speaker Johnson鈥檚 last minute health care ban for servicemembers鈥� kids.鈥� If signed by President Biden, this health care ban would be the first new anti-LGBTQ provision enacted by Congress and signed into law by the president since the enactment of the military鈥檚 since-repealed 鈥淒on鈥檛 Ask, Don鈥檛 Tell鈥� policy for LGBTQ servicemembers and the since-repealed federal law barring recognition of same-sex marriages known as the Defense of Marriage Act. It is unknown how many transgender youth are currently enrolled in TRICARE or how many of those enrolled are currently receiving coverage for gender-affirming care. In one 2022 analysis, 2,500 minor patients sought care for gender dysphoria through TRICARE Prime insurance at military or civilian treatment facilities in 2017, and 900 received puberty suppressants or gender-affirming hormones. Earlier this month, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a landmark case brought by the 老澳门开奖结果, the 老澳门开奖结果 of Tennessee, Lambda Legal, and Akin Gump on behalf of three families and a medical provider challenging a Tennessee ban on gender-affirming hormonal therapies for transgender youth on the grounds the ban violates the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution. -
Press ReleaseDec 2024
LGBTQ Rights
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LGBTQ Rights
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IdahoDec 2024
LGBTQ Rights
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