# 7th Circuit Protects Students T-Shirts with the Slogan "Be happy, not gay." **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 3, 2011, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7th-circuit-protects-students-t-shirts-with-the-slogan-be-happy-not-gay/573385 "2011-03-03T18:27:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tao_s_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2011, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7th-circuit-protects-students-t-shirts-with-the-slogan-be-happy-not-gay/573385/21 "2011-03-03T22:59:26Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Sounds reasonable to me. Content-based censorship by the state or its agents is un-American. > > Count-down to “WHAT IF IT WERE THE KKK!!!” in 3…2… > > Regards, > Shodan So what exactly is the relevant difference between race bigots and sexuality bigots? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tao_s_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2011, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7th-circuit-protects-students-t-shirts-with-the-slogan-be-happy-not-gay/573385/22 "2011-03-03T23:03:33Z")
> [@villa](#): > > I’m all in favor of letting kids wear Klan tshirts to school. Know thine enemy, and all. > > The sad part, though, is that you have no clue that it is extremely relevant whether they would permit children to wear Klan (or Nazi) t shirts to school. Quoted for extreme relevance, and agreement. ---
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2011, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7th-circuit-protects-students-t-shirts-with-the-slogan-be-happy-not-gay/573385/23 "2011-03-03T23:09:06Z")
Yeah, if I were a kid at that school, I would show up with a “Gay bashers are so gay.” shirt and dare the school to make me cover up. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2011, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7th-circuit-protects-students-t-shirts-with-the-slogan-be-happy-not-gay/573385/24 "2011-03-04T00:01:26Z")
> [@Oy](#): > > Anyone has the right to be gay, or black, or Republican, or orthodox Jewish or whatever. But not all at the same time unless you’re Sammy Davis Junior. ---
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2011, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7th-circuit-protects-students-t-shirts-with-the-slogan-be-happy-not-gay/573385/25 "2011-03-04T00:51:50Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > But not all at the same time unless you’re Sammy Davis Junior. Wasn’t Sammy Davis a Democrat? I seem to recall reading that he helped the Rat Pack campaign for JFK. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2011, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7th-circuit-protects-students-t-shirts-with-the-slogan-be-happy-not-gay/573385/26 "2011-03-04T16:06:45Z")
> [@Zakalwe](#): > > Wasn’t Sammy Davis a Democrat? I seem to recall reading that he helped the Rat Pack campaign for JFK. > > 😉 He was a Nixon supporter, though, and was reportedly the first black man invited to stay at the White House overnight by Nixon. But he supported Jesse Jackson’s attempts to win the Democratic nomination. And he was NOT gay. He was banging Kim Novak, which studio execs’ heads to explode, and also had a fling with Lola Falana while married to his Swedish actress wife whose name escapes me. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2011, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7th-circuit-protects-students-t-shirts-with-the-slogan-be-happy-not-gay/573385/27 "2011-03-04T16:10:58Z")
From Wikipedia: > [@](#): > > Although Davis had been voting Democratic, he had felt a lack of respect from the John F. Kennedy White House. He had been removed from the bill of the inaugural party hosted by Sinatra for the new President because of Davis’s recent interracial marriage to May Britt on November 13, 1960, in order to quell any controversy.[23] > > In the early 1970s, Davis supported Republican President Richard M. Nixon (and gave the startled President a hug on live TV). The incident was controversial, and Davis was given a hostile reception by his peers, despite the intervention of Jesse Jackson. Previously he had won their respect with his performance as Joe Wellington Jr. in Golden Boy and his participation in the Civil Rights Movement. Nixon invited Davis to sleep in the White House in 1973, which is believed to be the first time an African-American was invited to do so. Davis spent the night in the Queen’s Bedroom.[24] Unlike Frank Sinatra, Davis voted Democratic for president again after the Nixon administration, supporting the campaigns of Rev. Jesse Jackson in 1984 and 1988. So May Britt was the Swedish actress. Never would have remembered that. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2011, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7th-circuit-protects-students-t-shirts-with-the-slogan-be-happy-not-gay/573385/28 "2011-03-04T16:14:29Z")
> [@Zakalwe](#): > > Wasn’t Sammy Davis a Democrat? I seem to recall reading that he helped the Rat Pack campaign for JFK. I think that is more an indication of being mobbed up than being a Democrat. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2011, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7th-circuit-protects-students-t-shirts-with-the-slogan-be-happy-not-gay/573385/29 "2011-03-04T16:17:57Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > And he was NOT gay. He was banging Kim Novak, which studio execs’ heads to explode, and also had a fling with Lola Falana while married to his Swedish actress wife whose name escapes me. Classic overcompensation. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2011, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7th-circuit-protects-students-t-shirts-with-the-slogan-be-happy-not-gay/573385/30 "2011-03-04T16:27:55Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > He was a Nixon supporter, though, and was reportedly the first black man invited to stay at the White House overnight by Nixon. But he supported Jesse Jackson’s attempts to win the Democratic nomination. > > And he was NOT gay. He was banging Kim Novak, which studio execs’ heads to explode, and also had a fling with Lola Falana while married to his Swedish actress wife whose name escapes me. He was bisexual according to some of the women he dated and (I believe) his widow. I remember reading a magazine article once (I think in _Playboy_) which talked about it. Yes, they are only allegations from the women he knew, I don’t think he ever publicly admitted it himself, but the tenor of the article was not that the women were vindicative or trying to hurt him. Just matter of fact. I remeber one girlfriend talking about how he wanted her to teach him how to suck cock. They were in some hotel, out touring somewhere, and she said he went and got his manager, and that they both used him to practice on. Now have fun getting that image out of your mind. I’ve lived with it since I read that article in the 80’s. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2011, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7th-circuit-protects-students-t-shirts-with-the-slogan-be-happy-not-gay/573385/31 "2011-03-04T16:28:42Z")
So, if this is the case: “…a school that permits advocacy of the rights of homosexual students cannot be allowed to stifle criticism of homosexuality.” Then why can’t kids now wear t-shirts to school that bash black people or women or Muslims or Jews or what have you? I mean, the school probably teaches about the holocaust and women’s suffrage and the civil rights movement and the Crusades. Print up a, “Barefoot and pregnant is a woman’s place…Fix me a turkey pot pie!” on a shirt and have fun. Apparently that’s ok and the school can’t do anything about it if they ever advocated equal rights for women. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2011, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7th-circuit-protects-students-t-shirts-with-the-slogan-be-happy-not-gay/573385/32 "2011-03-04T16:40:10Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Then you have kids beating each other up on the way home because they have a uniform from a different school. Or so I’ve been told by people who grew up with uniforms. > > And on top of that, it’s just one more way in which kids are left with no experience in making their own decisions, leading to all sorts of problems later in life. The first problem can be solved by having all schools in a given district adopt the same uniform code. Hell it could even be done statewide. As for the second problem; the vast majority of them will have at least one job where they need to wear a uniform. Even without uniforms most businesses have dress codes alot stricter than a public school. And yes, I would’ve hated wearing a uniform in high school. I also hated PE, math class, pep rallies, and military recruiters. I’ve since grown to understand they all have their place (well except pep rallies). ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2011, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7th-circuit-protects-students-t-shirts-with-the-slogan-be-happy-not-gay/573385/33 "2011-03-04T16:46:29Z")
I’m surprised nobody has pointed out that Davis was a reform Jew not orthodox. It’s a joke, people. But Davis did say that he had at least one gay experience in an interview in People magazine. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2011, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7th-circuit-protects-students-t-shirts-with-the-slogan-be-happy-not-gay/573385/34 "2011-03-04T17:05:34Z")
Wearing such a Tee shirt tells fellow students what he believes. If he has no problem wearing a sign on his chest proclaiming his bigotry ,why should we care. I doubt the shirt will convince other students to change their position on gays. Many will see him for who he is. If a student wants to wear a white power or Nazi shirt, he should be permitted to do so. He would be treated with proper disgust by the others, who would learn something about him, or her. It does no harm to the school or the students. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2011, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7th-circuit-protects-students-t-shirts-with-the-slogan-be-happy-not-gay/573385/35 "2011-03-04T17:09:32Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > Wearing such a Tee shirt tells fellow students what he believes. If he has no problem wearing a sign on his chest proclaiming his bigotry ,why should we care. I doubt the shirt will convince other students to change their position on gays. Many will see him for who he is. > If a student wants to wear a white power or Nazi shirt, he should be permitted to do so. He would be treated with proper disgust by the others, who would learn something about him, or her. It does no harm to the school or the students. I am betting most students who would wear such shirts to school are in a school where bigotry is tolerated among the students. If you are one of a handful of gay or black or jewish (or whatever) students in that school you’d probably feel rather threatened and unwelcome. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2011, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7th-circuit-protects-students-t-shirts-with-the-slogan-be-happy-not-gay/573385/36 "2011-03-04T17:29:49Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > I remeber one girlfriend talking about how he wanted her to teach him how to suck cock. They were in some hotel, out touring somewhere, and she said he went and got his manager, and that they both used him to practice on. Wonder if he covered it with chocolate and a miracle or two. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2011, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7th-circuit-protects-students-t-shirts-with-the-slogan-be-happy-not-gay/573385/37 "2011-03-04T17:32:45Z")
No problem at all with this decision. The message seems deliberately tempered to avoid giving direct offense. If the shirts said “fuck them faggots” I suspect things would have gone differently. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2011, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7th-circuit-protects-students-t-shirts-with-the-slogan-be-happy-not-gay/573385/38 "2011-03-04T17:45:34Z")
Davis was probably, almost certainly, bi. Not gay. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2011, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7th-circuit-protects-students-t-shirts-with-the-slogan-be-happy-not-gay/573385/39 "2011-03-04T18:02:21Z")
Men. Women. I’m sure he kept an eye out for either one. ---
**Author:** ![NotreDame05](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90ced4/32.png) [@NotreDame05](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NotreDame05)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2011, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7th-circuit-protects-students-t-shirts-with-the-slogan-be-happy-not-gay/573385/40 "2011-03-04T19:36:02Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > So, if this is the case: > > “…a school that permits advocacy of the rights of homosexual students cannot be allowed to stifle criticism of homosexuality.” > > I mean, the school probably teaches about the holocaust and women’s suffrage and the civil rights movement and the Crusades. > > Print up a, “Barefoot and pregnant is a woman’s place…Fix me a turkey pot pie!” on a shirt and have fun. Apparently that’s ok and the school can’t do anything about it if they ever advocated equal rights for women. > [@](#): > > Then why can’t kids now wear t-shirts to school that bash black people or women or Muslims or Jews or what have you? Well the decision provides some answers but here is, essentially, the analytical framework for student speech cases. Does the student speech A.) materially and substantially interferes with the educational process, _Tinker v. Des Moines_ B.) Did the school have a reasonable belief/reasonable basis to believe the speech would materially and substantially interfere with the educational process, _Tinker v. Des Moines_, C.) Does the student speech advocate illegal conduct, _Frederick v. Morse_, D.) Is the speech vulgar, offensive, or obscene according to the schools’ educational mission _Bethel v. Fraser_) E.) Does the speech occur within a school sponsored publication resulting in parents and the public reasonably believing the speech carries the imprimatur of the school, _Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier_ F.) Does the speech implicate the incitement test of _Brandenburg v. Ohio_, G.) Does the speech contain fighting words, _Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire_. A pivotal fact in this decision is the school permitted students to express a message against harassment of homosexuals and a long standing principle of 1st Amendment jurisprudence has been the state cannot, consistent with the 1st Amendment, permit people to express an opinion on some subject and then censor people with a contrarian perspective on the same subject matter. So to answer your question, if the school permits students to express some positive view in regards to black people or women or Muslims or Jews, then the school has to allow a contrarian view, a negative view as well. So long as the negative view is expressed in such a manner as to not fall within those exceptions above, then the speech is permitted. The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals spilled some ink explaining why the slogan on the t-shirt did not fall within some of those exceptions I mentioned above. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7th-circuit-protects-students-t-shirts-with-the-slogan-be-happy-not-gay/573385.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7th-circuit-protects-students-t-shirts-with-the-slogan-be-happy-not-gay/573385.md?page=3)