Portsmouth High School Backs Down

The Virginian Pilot is reporting that I. C. Norcom High School student Bethany Laccone can attend the high school wearing a T-shirt that depicts a lesbian pride symbol (http://hamptonroads.com/2007/12/student-can-wear-lesbian-pride-t-shirt%2C-norcom-principal-says). One small victory for local gay rights. Here are a few highlights from the coverage:

Principal Lynn Briley's announcement came a day after the American Civil Liberties Union demanded that Norcom officials apologize to the 17-year-old student after a teacher and an assistant principal reportedly made her cover up the shirt and requested she not wear it to school. The organization also requested, among other things, that officials not participate in other such "censorship" and remove any disciplinary notices related to the incident from Laccone's file. "Yes, we did make a mistake," said Briley, adding that she had talked Thursday with the teacher and assistant principal who were involved.

Briley said she agreed with the ACLU that Laconne had been censored, but that no note had been placed in her file. She said she would apologize to the student and try to meet the other demands made by the ACLU. Based on the recommendations of the division superintendent, "we're going to comply with the guidelines set by the ACLU as best as we can to resolve this matter," Briley said.

Bethany Laccone said she hopes this initial victory will encourage other gay people to not fear displaying their pride through their clothing. "I hope that some people won't be scared to show who they are and can be proud of it," she said.

Portsmouth school asked to stop censoring lesbian symbol

The Virginian Pilot, ever slow on the uptake, is today reporting on the story about the I. C. Norcom High School student who has been punished for wearing a lesbian pride t-shirt (http://hamptonroads.com/2007/12/portsmouth-school-asked-stop-censoring-lesbian-symbol#comment-580092). What really pisses me off is the stupid comment by the principal's executive assistant which I have set out below. This comment is typical of this backward area where the cretins in positions of influence are utterly ignorant of what the LGBT community is really like. As surprising as it may be to them, gays and lesbians are represented throughout the business world and many are very successful business owners. Moreover, the majority of the Fortune 500 companies have non-discrimination policies that protect LGBT employees from treatment such as Ms. Laccone has experienced. Locally organizations like HRBOR and nationally like the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce represent hundreds, if not thousands of gay owned and gay supportive businesses. Not everywhere is as backwards as Hampton Roads.

If I.C. Norcom wants to prepare students for the business world, it had best teach them that not all regions of the country and not all businesses are as backward and prejudiced as the wingnut I.C. Norcom teacher who took issue with Bethany Laccone's t-shirt. Enough of the sermon - here are story highlights that add to the 365gay.com article cited yesterday:

School officials have until Jan. 11 to respond. A possible action by the ACLU could include a lawsuit if the demands aren't met, said Rebecca Glenberg, legal director of the ACLU of Virginia. Attempts to reach Norcom officials and the division superintendent were unsuccessful Thursday. However, Joseph L. Wiggins, the superintendent's executive assistant, said he had not seen the letter and could only speculate about why the student was reportedly asked not to wear the T-shirt. "The concern could be that we are training students to go out into the business world," he said, "But again, I don't know."

The ACLU contends that in early December, a teacher and an assistant principal at Norcom told 17-year-old Bethany Laccone to conceal a T-shirt that depicts a "well-known and historic signifier of lesbian pride and female solidarity." According to the ACLU letter, Bethany was threatened with suspension if she did not respond.

Bethany told her dad, Michael Laccone, about the day's happenings. He encouraged his daughter to contact the ACLU if she wanted to push the issue. A few days later, Laccone said he met with the assistant principal who his daughter claims had spoken to her. "I didn't think it was right to make her cover up a shirt when they allow other students to express themselves while wearing T-shirts," Laccone said Thursday. Laccone said that the administrator told him the shirt had upset Bethany's teacher to the point that it interfered with her ability to teach. Laccone said that sounds like a problem the school needs to resolve with the teacher, not with his daughter.

I. C. Norcom High School

1801 London Boulevard

Portsmouth, VA 23704

Phone: (757) 393-5442

Fax: (757) 393-5449

Principal: Lynn F. Briley - Lynn.Briley@pps.k12.va.us

Local Anti-Gay Christianist Bigotry in Portsmouth Virginia

Just when I begin to think that perhaps things are changing for the better in this area for those of us in the LGBT community, a story like this one pops up and shows that prejudice and discrimination are still very wide spread. As 365gay.com is reporting (http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/12/122007school.htm), a 17 year old lesbian student was suspended from I. C. Norcom High School in Portsmouth, Virginia - i.e., right across the river from Norfolk - for wearing a t-shirt featuring a lesbian pride symbol. I suspect NOTHING would have been said if she had been wearing a t-shirt with Christian imagery on it or something promoting an anti-gay rapper. In my view, if the teacher involved cannot handle exposure to LGBT students, she needs to resign and find a job with one of the numerous wingnut, bible-thumping Christian schools in the area. I hope the American Civil Liberties Union keeps up the pressure on the school and the school board. Here are some story highlights:

(Portsmouth, Virginia) The American Civil Liberties Union on Friday demanded that a high school that punished a student for wearing a t-shirt featuring a lesbian pride symbol apologize to the student and guarantee that it will no longer illegally censor her in the future. School officials at I.C. Norcom High School had threatened the 17-year-old senior with suspension because a teacher was upset by her t-shirt, which had an image of two overlapping female gender symbols.

“When my teacher told me she wanted me to turn my shirt inside-out or cover it up, I was confused, because I’ve worn that shirt to school several times before and nobody ever said a word about it,” said Bethany Laccone, who attends a different school full-time but goes to Norcom High every morning for a hotel management class. “I wear that shirt because I want people to know that I’m proud of being a lesbian and comfortable with who I am. And I have the same Constitutional right to free speech as any other student.”

In a letter sent to I.C. Norcom High School officials this morning, the ACLU demanded that any mention of the censorship be removed from Laccone’s student record, that the school guarantee it would not illegally censor Laccone or other students in the future, and that the school apologize to Laccone for its actions. “What’s happening to Bethany Laccone is a clear-cut case of unconstitutional censorship,” said Kent Willis, Executive Director of the ACLU of Virginia.

Laccone says that on December 10 she was pulled out of class by a teacher who said she shouldn’t be wearing the shirt at school and then sent her to the assistant principal’s office. The assistant principal and the teacher then told Laccone that the shirt violated a section of the school dress code that bans “bawdy, salacious or sexually suggestive messages.”

In a later meeting with Laccone’s father, the assistant principal said that he was upholding the censorship, and added that because the teacher is “very conservative” she claimed she was so upset by the t-shirt that it “interfered with her ability to teach.” “A public school teacher’s job is to serve the needs of all the students who go to that school,” said Christine Sun, a staff attorney with the ACLU’s national Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Project. “If a teacher can’t deal with the fact that there are gay students in her classroom, that doesn’t mean she gets to violate that student’s First Amendment rights.”