by leslie robinson :: qnotes contributor
The fabric of our lives
We Americans like to express ourselves
with our chests.
I'm not speaking of Jane Russell or even
Arnold Schwarzenegger.
I'm talking about our proclivity for wearing
T-shirts with slogans on them. Americans
have been human billboards for decades.
The slogans on T-shirts celebrate, ad
vocate, advertise, unify, decry and polarize.
Americans have lots to say — on shirts made
in Honduras.
So, it makes sense that one part of the
gay story in this country is being played out in
cotton/polyester blends. Over the past years
high school students and younger kids on
both sides of the gay issue have been wear
ing their hearts on their sleeves. And, getting
sent home for it.
The latest shirt-skirmish is still unfold
ing at a middle school in DeSoto Parish in
Louisiana. Student Dawn Henderson wore
a shirt reading "Some Kids are Gay. That's
OK." Principal Keith Simmons ordered her to
change her shirt or go home.
It occurs to me that any kid aiming to get
out of a test at school doesn't need to fake
qpoll
7^
Federal courts
have ruled con
sistently that
students" rights to free
speech and expression
while at school extend to
their wardrobe. LGBT stu
dents have benefited from
these rulings, but should
other students be allowed
to wear clothing with anti-
LG BT messages?
See the options and vote:
goqnotes.com/to/qpoll
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the flu — just don a controversial T-shirt and
in minutes you'll be back home watching
"Judge Judy."
According to the ACLU of Louisiana,
DeSoto school officials claimed the shirt
was "distracting." The ACLU sent Simmons
a letter arguing that Henderson has a First
Amendment right to express her opinion
across her chest, as long as the school al
lows clothing with slogans.
If the school decides to forbid clothing
with slogans, it might be hearing from Nike.
In another T-shirt to-do, which actually
began back in 2006, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court
of Appeals ruled a month ago that students
at Neuqua Valley High School in Naperville,
III., could wear T-shirts saying "Be Happy,
Not Gay."
The court maintained a "school that
permits advocacy of the rights of homosexual
students cannot be allowed to stifle criticism
of homosexuality."
May the judges' T-shirts ride up with
wear.
On Nov. 2 last year. Election Day, senior
Kate Cohn made a pro-gay statement at
Falcon High School in Peyton, Colo., by wear
ing a shirt reading "Marriage is so gay." She
said Principal Mark Carara told her the shirt
was offensive and violated the dress code
forbidding clothing potentially disruptive to
the academic environment.
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I'm guessing that means fish
nets are out. At least for guys.
Cohn's mom said Carara later
likened the T-shirt to apparel pro
moting alcohol or drug use.
That increasingly well-known
arbiter of fashion, the ACLU, sent
a letter to school administrators
demanding Cohn and others be
allowed to wear the shirt and the two-week
ban was lifted.
Perfect. Two weeks gave her enough time
to wash her shirt and make it all pretty for its
re-debut.
I can say with certainty that T-shirt tizzies
haven't been limited to the younger set or the
recent past. Back in the mid-'90s I covered
a protest by adults in Hampton Beach, N.H.,
outside a T-shirt store that peddled a couple
of anti-gay shirts. One read "Silly faggot,
dicks are for chicks" and the other said "Aids
Kills Fags" or something of that ilk.
What I remember best is a teenager point
edly buying one of those shirts during the pro
test, then sheepishly returning it afterwards
because he needed the money to get home.
The other day I spotted a different T-shirt
twist to the American LGBT story. Openly gay
veteran political consultant Fred Karger, in
Washington, D.C., to file for the Republican
presidential nomination, met with the
Republican National Committee chairman.
Karger — completely unknown to the
public and, to repeat, openly gay — told "Roll
Call," "We had a great meeting. I gave him
one of my T-shirts."
I'd like to know what slogan is on that
shirt. Maybe "Karger 2012: No, Really."::
info:
LesRobinson@aol.com. generalgayety.com
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April 16-29.2011 qnotes 5