America's Schools: Hostile Environments?

Last April, students at Springfield High School in Oregon were told they could not wear t-shirts that said: "I am a Christian and I am against homosexuality, abortion, pre-marital sex and drugs." Alliance Defense Fund Lawyer Tim Chandler said: "The Supreme Court has said schools have the right to censor student speech only if it's disruptive, only if it's vulgar, only if it's lewd...[Schools] can't ban speech just because they don't agree with it..." Students who were participating in a pro-homosexual campaign were not prohibited from expressing their views, Chandler noted. Now, Springfield High School has officially apologized to the Christian students. That favorable outcome in Oregon contrasts cruelly with this story from Lexington, Mass. You'll recall that in that birthplace of the American Revolution, David Parker was arrested and barred from school property after protesting pro-homosexual material distributed in his son Jacob's elementary school. Now comes word that Parker's son Jacob, 7, was beaten up on the playground on May 17--to mark the second anniversary of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts. Estabrook Elementary claims it is "Safe School" as a show of tolerance for students who are said to be homosexual. But apparently such "tolerance" is a one-way street.