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

[Irishonly]

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."

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

I am really awful at posting pictures. I love the T-shirt and I want one. The poll is terrible and needs help. A

[William769]

1. I just love how high school kids are actively involved.

I voted in the poll.

Is the 'All the Cool Girls are Lesbians' T-shirt appropriate?

Yes
34%

No
59%

it depends on the school
6%


Total Votes: 27402

[Ian David]

2. I have mixed feelings on this.

I like the shirt. I just don't think it's appropriate for school.

What if the shirt said, "All the cool kids are Christians?"

or "All the cool kids are Mormons?" or "All the cool kids are straight?"

My problem is that it can be construed as exclusionary.

I wouldn't mind a shirt that said, "A significant number of the cool kids are lesbians."

Edited to add: I voted in the online poll that is WAS appropriate, because I think it is more important to present a united front.

[HockeyMom]

3. My daughter's school just banned ALL t-shirts with any writing on them

It actually started with a student fight over Mets and Yankees shirts! The only shirts they could wear were their own school's sports teams; nothing else.

On a side note, my daughter would LOVE that Lesbian shirt!!!!

[Smarmie Doofus]

4. "Lesbians are cool"... as in the OP header.... would be easier to defend.

I'm going to vote appropriate anyway, however.

[nofurylike]

5. if it did say "Lesbians are cool," or "All Lesbians Are Cool," i would feel differently, but

"All the Cool Girls Are Lesbians"? no, that was wrong, and it was inciting trouble.

we have suffered such slurs our whole lives. becoming like those who did that to us is sad, and it was daring others to take offense.

if it said "All the Cool People Are Heterosexual," something like what we have heard forever, we would be incensed, and we would call it what it is, prejudice.

and i speak as one who knows that lesbians are cool, being one, and all

thank you for posting that, Irishonly.