'Be Happy Not Gay' shirt gets OK
25/04/2008 08:49  - (SA)  

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Washington - A US federal court has granted permission for a teenager to wear a T-shirt with the slogan "Be Happy, Not Gay" during a Christian day of action on Monday held in response to a gay rights protest.

The high school in Neuqua Valley, Illinois, had banned student Alexander Neuxoll from wearing the T-shirt in class on Monday, when a Christian group is organising a "Day of Truth" to show its opposition to homosexuality.

The day, which has been marked annually for the past four years, was in response to a "Day of Silence" that has taken place in schools and colleges across the United States since 1996 to call for more tolerance for gay people.

This year's "Day of Silence" is planned for Friday, and students are asked not to say anything all day. At Neuqua Valley school, participants will show their support by wearing a T-shirt with the slogan "Be Who You Are".

The school, while stressing its neutrality, barred Neuxoll from wearing a T-shirt saying "Be Happy, Not Gay" on Monday on the grounds that it was insulting.

But he said this was an affront to his freedom of expression and in a court ruling late on Wednesday, a federal appeals court agreed.

The judges said Neuxoll's t-shirt slogan was only "tepidly negative" and it was "highly speculative" that wearing it would "poison the educational atmosphere," ruling that he should be allowed to wear it.

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