Pro-Life Teen Sues His School Over 'Offensive' T-Shirt
by Jim Brown
May 19, 2005
(AgapePress) - A New York high school has been sued for barring a student from wearing a pro-life T-shirt to class. Despite the fact he had worn the shirt to school before, Kevin Dibble was told in October that the message depicted on the shirt was offensive.Dibble, a junior at Fillmore Central High School in Buffalo, was recently suspended for a day for wearing a T-shirt that says "Abortion is homicide. You will not silence my message. You will not mock my God. You will stop killing my generation. Rock for Life." Principal Kyle Faulkner told the young man he was prohibited from wearing the shirt because some other students were offended by its message.
Faulkner's actions prompted Dibble to contact the Thomas More Law Center in Michigan. Julie Shotzbarger, an attorney with the Law Center, then filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of Dibble.
"That is not a reason to violate a students' constitutional rights. Students wear shirts to school all the time that promote messages that could be offensive to many people," Shotzbarger points out. "But part of the right to free speech in a public high school dictates that that is what happens. So for the school to tell Kevin to remove his shirt is basically discrimination against Kevin for his particular viewpoint on abortion."
The attorney explains that the teenager is seeking only to have his right to wear his shirt to school restored.
"There's no monetary damages being sought," she says. "I think the limit to monetary relief was $19. That was our maximum limit. And really, the only thing he's seeking, what we requested of the court, is just to enforce a permanent injunction enjoining the school from violating his rights."
Before filing the lawsuit, the Law Center sent a letter to school officials explaining Dibble's constitutional right to express his pro-life views on his clothing while at school. And even though the legal group pointed out that other students wear shirts displaing controversial and potentially offensive messages, school officials continued to deny Dibble his right to wear the T-shirt.
A spokesman for the Law Center says the Buffalo case is another example of a school "taking sides" on the abortion issue and trying to silence a student's message because the school disagrees with it.
Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
