Connecticut Teen Wins The Right To Wear Anti-Gay Shirt To School
Seth Groody won a battle to wear an anti-gay T-shirt to school on his high school’s “Day of Silence”. The school supported his right to free speech, and now he’s selling T-shirts to his classmates.
1. Seth Groody argued that it was well-within his rights to wear an anti-gay T-shirt on his school’s “Day Of Silence” last April.
2. He wore this shirt to protest the “The Day Of Silence,” a day dedicated to raise awareness of the bullying of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered students.
3. At first school administrators stepped in and asked Groody to change his shirt, threatening to suspend him.
4. After the ACLU contacted the school and threatened to sue Wolcott High School for infringing Groody’s freedom of speech, the school decided to allow Groody to wear the shirt.
(Pictured above Superintendent Joseph Macary)
5. From the Hartford Courant:
“The ACLU contacted the school in June 2012, saying that Groody’s rights under both the U.S. Constitution and the state Constitution were violated by the school’s action. By not allowing Groody to wear his T-shirt, the school was causing “ongoing irreparable harm,” the complaint alleged.”
6. Groody is now selling anti-gay T-shirts to other students in his school, telling local reporters that he’s already sold 12 of his new line.
7. Seth Groody’s father, pictured below, told NBC Connecticut that he supports his son’s use of free speech. Seth told reporters that he plans to wear one for this year’s “Day Of Silence” as well.
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- kaishou thinks Connecticut Teen Wins The Right To We... is WTF, Fail & Trashy
- Jordandp thinks Connecticut Teen Wins The Right To We... is WTF & Fail
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jeremyt10 4 weeks agoHe does have freedom of speech. But his opinion does stink. Thankfully, this opinion is more and more the minority. He has the same rights as the rest of us. We are allowed to wear pro-gay shirts right? If the shirt had an intimidating or threatening message, that would be one thing. I strongly disagree with him, but he does have the constitutional right to wear that shirt wherever he wants.
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chipl3 4 weeks agoOk So I am not sure if anyone is really following this or not.
But I was just skimming thru this post and went and looked up online anything else that might come close to this article and I found another posting just last week on this very same incident.
It’s very Clearly that the School Board and School are backing this kid and trying to change what it’s own policy is. the superintendent emailed this statement to the Author: The Wolcott Public Schools believes in and supports the First Amendment rights of students, in accordance with both court decisions and the policies of the Wolcott Board of Education. The Wolcott Public Schools has always and will continue to allow students their rights of free expression, so long as all students exercise their rights without creating a substantial disruption to the educational environment for all students. But that means that even 1 student can have an issue with it and that is a Disruption. But the school was even quoted to have said that they had a number of student complaining about the shirt. So how can they go back on their own rules? But I wonder if the real reason he wore that shirt is because he’s being taught by Daddy that gays are bad yet sonny boy there is screwing around with his best buddy when alone together and this is his way of trying to keep it hidden from everyone. -
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LittleD100 4 weeks agoI wish I could visit wearing a shirt that said “Seth Groody is a homophobe who likely has an IQ lower than my toaster.” see how well the free speech argument goes then. Actually no, probably just a picture of his face with a giant x through it. No evidence yet to support him being able to read.
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rickys7 2 months agoI’m sorry, but students don’t maintain their freedom of speech rights when they’re in school. A kid would get in trouble if he started swearing at a teacher, and most schools have at least some sort of bullying policy, which I’m sure this would fall under. ALSO, most schools have a DRESS CODE that prohibits certain articles of clothing from being worn, whether its too short shorts or skirts, or inappropriate attire, which I’m SURE this t-shirt would fall under. His freedom of speech protects him from being LEGALLY penalized from wearing the shirt, but the school is its own institution, and they have EVERY RIGHT to suspend the asshole kid and not allow him to wear the shirt.
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nicolasl5 2 months agoFreedom of speech huh? So if students can raise awareness of LGBT students in a school which involves students of all cultures, religions, race, ect. which are tax paying what is the difference to someone silently protesting it whereas an entire student body is protesting too? If the students are protesting in a place that is publicly funded so should other students. You are hypocrite. Allowing some stuents to have freedom of speech while limiting others. You act if this kid murdered someone, totally not the case buddy. He was wearing a shirt which he was demonstrating on day of silence which other students were demonstrating in TAX PAYING ZONE! If I had it my way, neither side should be demonstrating inside or near the school zone.
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nicolasl5 2 months ago
In the 1970s in a suburb of Chicago called Sokie, a group of Nazis were going to demonstrate their cause. Sokie happened a Jewish community for relatives or survivors of the holocaust. There was a big case about whether the Nazis had the right to demonstrate at a placed where survivors of one of the greatest tragedies of all time lived. The ACLU actually defended the Nazis. The ACLU actually won the case in the Supreme Court. Reason being because the ACLU are the most staunchest rights group to advocate what the constitution states. You may not like what people demonstrate but they are within their rights to do so. As long as hurtful confrontation does not happen, they have the right to express themselves to the very fullest. I am a socialist, people may not like what I am but, but I am who I am. That goes for everybody and everyone, whether, people are gay, socialist, Nazis, peace-nicks, Pinko commies, Yellow, brown, Green and blue. Everyone has the right to demonstrate. If you are offended by this you can protest just as well as he did. As long as its non-violence we advocate. When violence gets involved on either side its a hate crime.
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tristanm4 2 months agoIt’s so sad that America has taken such a grand idea as set out by its founding fathers and evidenced in the declaration of independence; a beautifully written document. And has twisted its ideals to the extent that now the idea that was America is no better that the countries it opposed ideologically. It is no surprise however as the word ‘fundamentalist’ was first used in America by so called ‘Christians’ to define their bigoted, blinkered views. You are now no better off than the citizens of countries like Saudi Arabia except that you think this is freedom.
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Carenna Weinhardt 2 months ago
This is really upsetting. It’s one thing to wear that shirt, but to sell them is a really dick thing to do.
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- Carenna Weinhardt added Gives You Hell to the mix about 2 months ago
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purplepenguin84 2 months ago
but that would be fighting hate with still more hate. That shirt is an awful reflection of what goes on in society today, and certainly someone needs to ask Seth how he would feel if someone did that to him, but in part, it’s people like that that Day of Silence is really for. They need to understand the harm they cause, and the people who are bullied need to know that they’re not alone.
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lincolnlhh 2 months agoPeople wear ‘no religion’ shirts all the time. Regardless of it is a brand, it’s the same concept. It’s free speech both ways, but I don’t see Christians complain about the specifically ‘no cross’ symbol shirts.
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Calvin k 2 months ago
It’s a bit different. If the shirt is “No Christian” or “No Jews” then it will definitely be banned.
“No Religion” is more analogous to “No Sex” in this case, not “No Homosexuality”. Free speech does not cover hate speech. Free Speech doesn’t mean you can say whatever you want whenever and wherever you want. -
N Jacobsen 2 months ago
Actually, in the USA hate speech is covered by free expression, as it should be. Only speech intended to cause imminent lawless action or harm is illegal, but in that case it’s considered a verbal act, and therefore the first amendment does not apply.
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Golden Arrow 2 months ago
The degree of sexual response to homosexual images correlates to the degree of homophobia presented. This is not new information, it’s been in medical journals. Well that and he looks a lot like the gay guy a few doors down from me.
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charliec14 2 months agoThe actions of this kid could easily be interpreted as a form of bullying. Add to that the fact that he’s wearing the shirt on the same day as an anti-bullying event and you could easily toss out his ‘right to free speech’ argument. Or at least the school can watch his actions at school from now on. If he is so arrogant that he would protest an event that is simply trying to stop bullying, he’s probably one of the worst bullies at the school. Time for them to enact a 0 tolerance policy on bullying. Guarantee that would shut this little prick up.
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