Constitutional Law

Little Monsters Unite! Lady Gay Gay Shirt Wins the Day!

By Suzanne Ito, ACLU

If you're like my colleague Mandy, and you follow Lady Gaga's Twitter feed, you might've seen this tweet on April 7:

Been in the studio for days and hours of record after record, and when I hear that a little monster was discriminated against* BY TEACHERS

It turns out that Lady Gaga herself was speaking out against the censoring of a gay high school freshman in Tennessee, who was sent home on April 5 for wearing a T-shirt that said "I [love] Lady Gay Gay."

The student, Cole Goforth, and his mother Julie Gordon contacted the ACLU of Tennessee and Lambda Legal after he was sent home. School officials told him that wearing a pro-gay T-shirt was "disruptive" and that he "had brought [harassment] on himself by coming out."

The school, in negotiations with the ACLU of Tennessee and Lambda Legal, has agreed to stop censoring him from wearing this T-shirt. The school will also provide training on its anti-bullying policy to staff and students to ensure that it is clear that harassment of any student, regardless of sexual orientation, is not acceptable.

Full post as published by Blog of Rights on April 19, 2010 (boomark / email).