'Lesbians are cool' T-shirt puts Massachusetts school in national spotlight

[jimmy olsen]

What a bunch of whiners, the shirt's harmless.

http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/12/10657866-lesbians-are-cool-t-shirt-puts-massachusetts-school-in-national-spotlight

'Lesbians are cool' T-shirt puts Massachusetts school in national spotlight

By msnbc.com staff
A Massachusetts high school has set off a national free speech debate after a student was reprimanded for wearing a T-shirt that proclaimed, "All the Cool Girls Are Lesbians."

The student, who hasn't been publicly identified, complained in a letter to Judith Flanagan Kennedy, chairwoman of the Lynn, Mass., School Committee — and mayor of the town — that in January, she was asked by a vice principal to cover up the T-shirt and never wear it again, the Lynn Daily Item reported.

In the letter, as quoted by the Daily Item, the student said a teacher referred her to a vice principal because of the T-shirt. The vice principal agreed with the teacher that the shirt was inappropriate "because it's political and offensive to some people," the student said she was told.

"Well, frankly I'm the one who feels offended," she wrote in the letter to Kennedy, adding: "The word lesbian is not inappropriate. Saying it is, is calling homosexuality inappropriate."

Kennedy agreed with her.

Kennedy told members of the School Committee at its meeting last week that she had done some legal research, "and I believe she is right."

The school's dress code prohibits clothing that depicts weapons, drugs or alcohol, or anything considered disruptive, but it doesn't specify gender issues, Kennedy said. The school has a Gay/Straight Alliance, demonstrating its tolerance for such expressions, she said.

The debate over such expressions quickly spread beyond Lynn, a city of 90,000 about 20 miles northeast of Boston, much of it on pro-gay-rights sites like SheWired and The Advocate.

"Truth hurts...," one commenter wrote on SheWired's Facebook page, while another said she "would love to get my hands on a tshirt lol."

But Dallas Chambers, a program director at radio station KISS-FM in Amarillo, Texas, took the side of the assistant principal, writing on the station's Web site that "we have a ton of idiots in our world, students need to be paying attention in class! Not being distracted by naive little girls that think it's cool to be a lesbian."

Jeanne Sager, a blogger for CafeMom, also objected, but on different grounds:

"I'm raising a kid in a pro-gay rights household. That means she's learned that gay kids are just like her. They're equal," she wrote under the headline "Student's 'All Cool Girls Are Lesbians' Shirt Was Way Out of Line."

"What doesn't it mean?" she asked. "That gay kids are 'cooler' than her any more than it means she's cooler than the gay kids."

[Darth Wagtaros]

Since it would generally be socially unacceptable to wear a t-shirt saying 'All the cool girls are heterosexual' I agree that this shirt sends a wrong message.

[garbon]

I'm not sure how this is political or offensive.

[garbon]

Since it would generally be socially unacceptable to wear a t-shirt saying 'All the cool girls are heterosexual' I agree that this shirt sends a wrong message.

I don't really see how that's true.  Next up will you be telling us that it is problematic that you can't say white pride without being racist?

[DontSayBanana]

Since it would generally be socially unacceptable to wear a t-shirt saying 'All the cool girls are heterosexual' I agree that this shirt sends a wrong message.

That's the exact point the last person mentioned in the article made.

[CountDeMoney]

It's supposed to say, "Lipstick Lesbians are Cool".  Morons.

[garbon]

It's supposed to say, "Lipstick Lesbians are Cool".  Morons.

I believe the word is amateurs.

[Darth Wagtaros]

I believe you are too close to the issue Seeds.

[katmai]

It's supposed to say, "Lipstick Lesbians are Cool".  Morons.

They are a figment of your imagination, like the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus.

[CountDeMoney]

They are a figment of your imagination, like the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus.

If it's in porn, it's real.

[katmai]

They are a figment of your imagination, like the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus.

If it's in porn, it's real.

Okay Ide! 

[Eddie Teach]

It's supposed to say, "Lipstick Lesbians are Cool".  Morons.

They are a figment of your imagination, like the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus.

Portia de Rossi is quite attractive.

[Scipio]

It would be better if it was one of those "lesbians are gay" shirts.

[Valmy]

This is the sort of stupid shit that drove me nuts in school.

[Camerus]

A somewhat tough position for the principal or vice-principal, since either telling the student to change the shirt or allowing her to wear it (thus also possibly opening the door to similar or even "edgier" shirts worn by her or other students) both open the door to complaints from the "outrage police" on either side of the spectrum.  However, in my view, the vice-principal made the wrong decision for a variety of reasons.