Ninth Circuit sides with school in banning American flag on Cinco de Mayo.

[Ibn_Warraq]

@Left_Hand_of_Dorkness

I absolutely agree. However, I think that students’ free speech rights need to be taken seriously–as Tinker does–and the heckler’s veto buried in Tinker deserves reconsideration. If a student is quietly and peacefully expressing a political view that would otherwise be all right, the violence or disruption of another student must not be the deciding factor in whether to censor the first student. Rather, the first student’s right to speak a particular opinion in a particular context must be decided independently of the actual actions of other students.

So then, to give an example you’d be outraged at a school in Kentucky not allowing a student to go to her prom in a Confederate Flag prom dress?

[Left_Hand_of_Dorkness]

@Ibn_Warraq

So then, to give an example you’d be outraged at a school in Kentucky not allowing a student to go to her prom in a Confederate Flag prom dress?

“Outraged”? Absolutely not. That’s an emotional response, and my visceral reaction is to tell her to fuck off with her racist self.

But consider the censorship illegal? That’s a trickier question. Has the Confederate flag been used by hate groups in that area, such that it can reasonably be construed either as a threat or as a deliberate attempt to intimidate? It very well might have been, and if so–if it’s a not-so-subtle way of reminding black students that the Klan is alive and kicking in that community–then banning the dress might be okay.

But your example has nothing to do with what I said. TO make it analogous, you’d have to say that the dress got banned after another kid threatened to beat her up for wearing it.

[Bone]

A different school letting the bullies dictate policy (local news story that also plays audio). Here a 9 year old boy who uses a My Little Pony backpack was getting assaulted. According to the mother:

But Noreen says Thursday the school asked him to leave the bag at home because it had become a distraction and was a “trigger for bullying.”

Volokh has more.

But such reaction by schools itself teaches students something — it teaches bullies that, if they threaten enough disruption, the school will react against their victims.

[Really_Not_All_That_Bright]

Yeah, it’s a shitty rule, but what are you going to do?

[Shodan]

@Really_Not_All_That_Bright

Yeah, it’s a shitty rule, but what are you going to do?

Tell gay folks to deal with gay-bashing by going back into the closet, apparently. That way they won’t trigger bullying.

Regards,
Shodan

[Really_Not_All_That_Bright]

The Tinker rule is specific to public schools. It doesn’t apply to parades, or nightclubs, or the workplace; just schools.

[Jimmy_Chitwood]

As much as it heartens me to see us all united in our desire to decry gay-bashing, there is the fact that the next paragraph in that story was

Buncombe County Schools declined an interview, but sent us this statement, “an initial step was taken to immediately address a situation that had created a disruption in the classroom. Buncombe County Schools takes bullying very seriously, and we will continue to take steps to resolve this issue.”

In other words, the “thugs” who are winning again, as far as we know, are getting thrown out of school. They’re just getting thrown out of school at the same time as the school says “ahh christ, OK, no more My Little Pony.”

[Bone]

@Really_Not_All_That_Bright

Yeah, it’s a shitty rule, but what are you going to do?

I’m not sure really. Much like when a group gets a permit to protest on a controversial topic and local police are needed to provide additional security, the school should take steps that protects permissible activity (using a backpack) and punishes forbidden activity.

Only tangentially I’m reminded of this story.

*And I’m not sure we know this 9 year old boy is gay or even if it matters. Think of the Bronies.