Say Anything Blog

Rosemary has a question to ask regarding this Fox News story:

Jared Gamwell, 17 year old and openly gay, is fighting to campaign in his school's election with gay slogans.

His posters read: "Gay Guys Know Everything!" and "Queer Guy for Hunt High."

The school's principal removed his posters. Gamwell contacted the ACLU, he wants help getting the decision reversed. The argument is that his constitutional right to free speech is being violated. The school's position is that the posters are a disruption and have no relevance to his qualifications for office.

Rosemary would like to know if this student's right to free speech is being violated. My answer is no.

I realize that a lot, if not the majority, of teenagers are not only familiar with sex but are also participating in it. But that doesn't mean we should forget that the students in Mr. Gamwell's school are still minors. Mr. Gamwell himself is a minor. A student using his sexual orientation in slogans for a school election just isn't appropriate.

The school is right on target by saying that the posters have no relevance. This young man putting up posters referencing his homosexuality is no more appropriate than a straight student using a slogan like:

Vote For Me Because I Score With Lots Of Chicks

If the objective of a school election is to introduce these students to the world of politics then slogans like these should be disallowed. They wouldn't be appropriate in the real world and they're not appropriate in a school setting either.