Back in January, Wendy Kaminer
posted here about a federal case in which a high school student was challenging her school's decision to suspend her for wearing a shirt that said "Be Happy, Not Gay." Following up on that post, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit decided yesterday (
read opinion here) that another student (the original girl had since graduated, making her ineligible to sue) who wanted to wear the shirt could do so. Specifically, the court was willing to issue a narrow preliminary injunction, limited to temporarily overriding the school's rule that bans students from wearing a shirt that says "Be Happy, Not Gay" on the "Day of Truth" -- a day of counter-protest following the school's pro-gay-students "Day of Silence." In his majority opinion, Judge Richard Posner predicted that this wouldn't be the end of the lawsuit, and that the students would seek to get broader and more permanent protection for their anti-gay speech. If there's more action in this case, we'll be following it.
Hat tip:
Decision of the Day.