Young Activist Claims School Censored Protest Against Homosexual Event
by Mary Rettig
April 12, 2005
(AgapePress) - Members of a high school conservative group in California are saying their First Amendment rights were violated when they tried to protest an upcoming pro-homosexual "Day of Silence" event.
Tim Bueler, a senior at Rancho Cotate High School in Rohnert Park, is the founder and president of the High School Conservative Clubs of America. Last week the Rancho Cotate High School Conservative Club participated in a demonstration called the "Day of Truth." The conservative protest was designed to counter a pro-homosexual observance known as the "Day of Silence," an event planned by the Gay-Straight Alliance and fashioned after a similar nationwide demonstration.
Over two days last week the Conservative Club members walked around Rohnert Park carrying signs bearing the message "Homosexuality is Sin" or citing scripture references against homosexuality. Many students wore pro-marriage messages on their sweatshirts and passed out pro-family literature as well.
The off-campus demonstration proceeded largely without incident. However, Bueler says the protesters were met with opposition when they tried to enter Rancho Cotate High School. "Our signs and our material were confiscated," he complains, alleging that school officials "confiscated all of our literature and our sweatshirts right when we got into class, and they cited material disruption."
The Conservative Club founder says he protested against the school officials' attempted censorship. The young activist recalls, "I asked our principal to look at the educational code under 'Religious Tolerance and Expression.' He wouldn't do that, but he confiscated our stuff just the same." Two members of the Conservative Club refused to take off their "Homosexuality is Sin" sweatshirts, and Bueler says they were suspended for the day as a result.
The leader of the conservative student group contends that the school administrators and teachers who tried to shut down the Day of Truth protest were actually demonstrating the intolerance that exists against biblical and conservative viewpoints. "They're just proving my point," he says.
"There's a liberal bias in public education," Bueler continues. "And not only that, but you have a day unto one group -- the Day of Silence, a pro-homosexual day supported by the school. And when any other group tries to demonstrate or have a day like they have, it's not tolerable."
The high school senior adds that his club is in contact with some Christian legal groups, who are going over the case to determine whether the students' First Amendment rights were violated.
School principal Mitchell Carter did not return calls requesting comments for this report. However, he was quoted in the local press as saying that the confiscated sweatshirts violated a school policy about messages on clothing "that represent bigotry and target particular protected classes" of students.
Mary Rettig, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
