Oh yeah, and what if 75% of people in the district think that the 2 mommies should be stoned to death?
IANAL, but it I don’t think it matters what percentage of the population supports an unconstitutional policy. Even if 99% supported something illegal, that wouldn’t make it okay.
I’d say the overwhelming majority of residents of that county were a bunch of stupid bigots, and I’d wonder (in jest, mostly) if there was a nuke just powerful enough to take out that school district.
And to follow up on that, the actions of the school and the school district open it up to a civil suit on that basis.
“Cry havoc! and let loose the dogs of law.” 
One of my coworkers thinks this case is a GOOD thing. He says it’s a great thing that the school has come out and told the kid that what “his mother and her girlfriend” are doing is bad, because otherwise the kid could grow up thinking being gay is a-ok, and then the entire moral community of the world would crumble into dust and we’d all DIE AND GO TO HELL.
I don’t know if Ms. Huff and Ms. Manley knew what Marcus was going to be forced to write, but my guess is this: they can’t afford private or homeschool options, and subjecting Marcus to (what they may have thought would be a simple detention-type experience in) the “behavior clinic” thing was probably presented as the only way that he’d be permitted to stay in school. Ultimatum policies like that are becoming commonplace in public schools.
Reason #17,219 why the Spawns of TeaElle are going to be homeschooled.
Hey, if you want to, “Bite Me” - I read the OP. And that shit about a little kid’s freedom of speech in school, well that is pretty thin stuff. That ACLU letter is just a threat letter that attorneys do all the time.
There is an awful lot of stuff in this world that is offensive to an awful lot of people and it ain’t illegal.
Again, like my previous posts, I am offering opinions (which you are free to disregard). Except for the “Bite Me” that’s a firm offer. **
[/QUOTE]
Um, except it’s not thin.
The Supreme Court said so.
You lose.
Robin
Not to get all rhetorically hyperbolic or nothin’ but how “little” is too little to have one’s rights respected? How “thick” does the violation have to be before it becomes less than “thin”? Should Marcus and his mothers perhaps wait until the next incident, or the one after that, or the one after that, before demanding that their child’s rights be given the respect they are due under the Constitution of the United States?
To put this in terms you’re more likely to understand, what if, instead of “my mommy is gay,” Marcus had said “my mommy is a union member. Union means workers like workers.” and he’d been made to write “I will not say ‘union’ again in school” 100 times? What if his mother received a call that the word “union” was so reprehenisble that it couldn’t be uttered over the phone? What if that teacher had implanted in an elementary schooler’s mind that “union” is a “bad wurd”? Would you find that trampling of his rights to be “thin” as well?
Plus, what kind of message is the school sending to his classmates?
Shit, I remember the flack I took because my dad’s a mortician! I can only imagine what’ll happen now that they’ve been told that Marcus’s parents are “degenerate sinners who are filthy and going to hell blah blah blah” or whatever shit that bigots fling about.
I think the reason why I find this especially sad is that the school is punishing the child for something that is not his fault. Regardless of how the teacher or principal feels about gay couples, they are punishing this child for it, which is especially wrong.
I wonder if they would have objected to any description of his parents. It can’t just simply be the word ‘gay’ they object to, if he in the future says “I have two moms who love each other” or described them as lesbians, what would they do? Or is he forbidden to talk about them at all?
Oh, I don’t know… maybe because you have prejudicial assumptions about the state, perhaps because it’s located in the deep South? Look, I’ll be the first to say that my home state can be the rectum of the country. But this could have happened in any town in America.
Lafayette is a smallish city about 75 miles west of the state capital, Baton Rouge. The residents are overwhelmingly Catholic. It’s a very conservative, small town atmosphere.
That being said, here is a list of Lafayette Parish school board members, with phone numbers, some with email addys.
Go get 'em.
I don’t know if it’s prejudicial or accurate. This is the state where a trucker for Winn-Dixie was fired because he was fond of wearing women’s clothing while he was OFF DUTY. It’s also the state where the state Court of Appeals ruled the anti-sodomy laws were not unconstitutional. The Governor’s Program on Abstinence is promoting “Judeo-Christian heritage in America”. LA is one of the states with a DOMA. It all starts to add up.
You’re in Texas and you want to start arguing about which state is most ignorant? That’s brave.
I lived in Louisiana for years and still have family there, so am I authorized to say stuff like that?
RE: pretty thin and against the law and freedom of speech for children
Well, my guess is this will be settled and we will never know if a law has been violated.
I’d still wonder if a law had been violated; as I don’t let my personal opinion/emotions get in the way of reality if I can help it.
Didn’t we have a thread recently about a Louisiana Judge who went to a costume party dressed in black face and wearing a chain gang outfit. Wonder if he will hear the case?
Same thing about 75% of the school district supporting such a policy. If they do and the case goes before a Louisiana Parish judge who was elected, how do you think he is gonna lean. Oh, this is a “federal case” - well then the judge has been appointed by the “republican party” - or political hierarchy - gee, I bet the judge is a real:
“freedom of speech for children talking about gay issues
in school supporter”
don’t you think?
In case you are still wondering, the “law” in question is the 1st Amendment, as made binding on the states by the 14th Amendment. Since the school is run by the government, it is subject to the restrictions imposed by the US Constitution. Louisiana may also guarantee some rights, either by statute or by its constitution, neither of which I have researched.
I doubt it, since IIRC, that judge was suspended from his position.
So, at worst, it has to get appealed to a judge who doesn’t have his head up his butt. Somehow, I think that the GLBT community is going to contribute as necessary to make sure that Marcus gets the justice he deserves.
county, I don’t really know you that well, so I gotta wonder, are you stupid, ignorant or just a dick?
What law was violated? The supreme law of the land, the Constitution of the United States of America. The First Amendment of the Constitution, generally speaking, protects the right of children in school to speak without reprisal. This child spoke and suffered a reprisal. Thus, the school broke the law.
Which part of that confuses so to so great a degree? Is there a certain number of times this needs to be stated before it sinks in? This is not a matter of “personal opinion” or “emotion.” It is a matter of settled law.
Well, the first thing is you don’t seem to quite grasp how federal judges are appointed. Secondly, one would hope that any judge who hears this case would uphold his or her oath of office and apply the clear precedent of Tinker I cited earlier and find in favor of Marcus and his mothers.
Well for your sake I hope you get the ruling you want but you guys seem to forget that there hasn’t been a ruling yet.
Opinions on this board don’t constitute a violation of law, as much as you would like for that to be the case.
Insofar as “stupid and ignorant with a big dick” is concerned; well you know the offer.
Feel free… I myself called Louisiana “the rectum of the nation” in my first post on this state. I just have a problem with dismissing this case by saying, “Oh, well, it’s Louisiana… what do you expect?” Ignorance is no respecter of borders.
I definitely don’t want to get into a pissing contest about whose state sucks more. I know I’ll win. 
What’s a DOMA, Homebrew?