A Fort Worth high school suspended 14-year-old Christian, and honor student, Dakota Ary for saying "I think being homosexual is wrong" in an open class-time discussion concerning religious beliefs.
After serving a portion of the 3-day suspension, the school administration acquiesced after meeting with a constitutional attorney and lifted the remainder of the suspension.
For background, read Countering ACLU Threats that Schools Must Teach Homosexuality and also read White House Says Gay Recruitment of Kids Successful as well as Feds Fund Homosexualists' School Training
UPDATE 10/13/11: School Apologizes for Bullying Student Dakota Ary
UPDATE 10/2/11 - Teacher suspended for wrongly suspending student (video):
-- From "Western Hills student suspended for denouncing homosexuality has punishment reversed" by Eva-Marie Ayala, Fort Worth Star Telegram 9/23/11
A Western Hills High School student who was suspended from school for saying homosexuality is wrong has had his punishment reversed, according to the boy's mother and attorney.
Freshman Dakota Ary was in German class Tuesday when the discussion turned to religion, and a student in the back of the class asked about that country's views of homosexuality.
"I told my friend that I'm a Christian and I believe being gay is wrong," said Ary, 14. "But the teacher told me I shouldn't say things like that, and he wrote me an infraction. I was surprised. I wasn't discriminating or being a bully. I was just expressing my beliefs."
The teacher sent Ary to the office, where an assistant principal placed him on three-day in-school suspension.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Anti-gay comment causes stir" posted at KSN-TV (Wichita, KS) 9/22/11
On the referral form [written by the teacher to the school office], Ary is quoted as saying "no gays allowed in Christianity." The form says the comment was unprovoked and out of context. The final sentence of the explanation on the referral reads, "It is wrong to make such a statement in public school."
But Ary's mother, Holly Pope, and attorney Matt Krause of the Liberty Counsel disagree.
They said the referral, the two-day suspension and the teacher's statement are wrong.
"Just because you walk through the school house doors doesn't mean you shed your First Amendment rights," Krause said. "And he wasn't disrupting class, he wasn't hurting or harassing anybody. He was just stating his religious beliefs in a benign, non-hostile way."
The standard referral form asks whether the incident is of a bullying or cyber-bullying nature.
Instead of answering yes or no, a handwritten "possibly" is nearby.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Student suspended for anti-gay comment" by Jason Whitely, WFAA-TV5 Seattle 9/22/11
. . . his mother hired an attorney and met with principals on Wednesday morning.
“That’s the reason we have the First Amendment and freedom of speech, because not everybody thinks the same way and we have the freedom to disagree in the marketplace of ideas and discussion," said Matt Krause, a constitutional attorney the family hired. "It’s OK if people take contradictory sides. Here, Dakota was just expressing his viewpoint. It might offend somebody but that doesn’t mean it’s wrong.”
Krause said principals agreed with that viewpoint after their meeting Wednesday morning, when they canceled Ary’s second day of suspension, agreed to let him make up his work and also make sure his record doesn’t reflect what happened.
Messages to a spokesman for the Fort Worth Independent School District were not immediately returned Wednesday evening.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
