ITHACH, NEW YORK - John Swanhart didn't suspect his school day would be different from any other Wednesday. But that turned out to be anything but the case.The 17-year-old senior at Charles O. Dickerson High School was one of a number of students asked to leave school Wednesday for wearing shirts with messages countering the National Day of Silence.
An estimated 500,000 students at 4,000 schools nationwide participated in the Day of Silence — sponsored by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network — to bring attention to the pervasive problem of anti-lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender bullying and harassment in schools.
Cosimo Tangorra, superintendent of Trumansburg schools, said he supported the decision of high school officials to send the students home.
“It seems to me kids are being discriminating,” Tangorra said. “It makes people uncomfortable. It's like if someone was wearing a white supremacy T-shirt.”
Tangorra said he had been contacted by high school Principal Paula Hurley earlier in the school day about problems that could potentially arise from the shirts, but by 4 p.m. had not received any phone calls from parents or students.
“Living in a free society, people can't feel threatened to live any way they want to be,” Tangorra said. “School districts need to be one of the safest, if not the safest, place for students to expand their thinking.”
Swanhart and some friends decided to print “Straight is Great” and “Adam and Eve Not Adam and Steve” on T-shirts and wear them to school in response to the National Day of Silence.
Swanhart said he and some friends made about 20 shirts to express their own views.
“I was sitting in first-period class,” Swanhart said. “The other teachers said something to me about (the shirt), and we left it alone. Then, 15 to 20 minutes later, while I was doing homework ... I was asked to go to the office.”
At 8:15 a.m., Hurley called Swanhart to her office and asked him to take off the T-shirt. Administrators then called Swanhart's mother, Judith Russell, a cafeteria worker at Trumansburg Elementary School.
“She said this is Mrs. Hurley, and I have John in my office,” Russell said. “She said take it off, or get suspended. I asked her where it says he gets suspended. She read from the student handbook, and then ... (he was) sent home for the day.”
Swanhart said administrators explained to him that if he wanted to have a day to express his views then he would have to follow guidelines.
“They said if I wanted to have a straight day, we'd have to get a group together and get an adviser in advance,” he said. “They told me about Matthew Shepard, and that's why there's a Day of Silence.”
Shepard was a college student who was killed Oct. 12, 1998 in Colorado after he was tied to a fence, beaten and pistol whipped.
Swanhart refused to remove the T-shirt and administrators asked him to leave school at 9:45 a.m.
According to parents and students in the school district, students participating in the Day of Silence had to sign up before the event and obey a ground rule of speaking when addressed by an adult.
“They said I was trying to cause friction between the two groups,” Swanhart said. He missed classes both at the high school and courses he was taking at the Tompkins-Seneca-Tioga Board of Cooperative Educational Services.
Swanhart wasn't the only student told to leave school property Wednesday. Estimates from other students who opted to continue wearing the shirts range from 20 to 30 more students sent home. Phone calls to Hurley for comment were not returned.
“At 1:15 p.m., (Hurley) came up and said the shirt was inappropriate,” said Matt McConnell, a 16-year-old junior. “She said I could get it back at 2:45 p.m. They said (those participating in the Day of Silence) had only one day a year to do this, so we shouldn't be doing what we're doing.”
McConnell said that as students were asked to leave, the shirts changed hands and other students wore the shirts until they, too, were asked to leave.
“It was just basically, I wasn't doing anything by it,” he said. “I'm straight, and I don't care if anyone knows.”
from The Ithaca
Yeah - but was the point to wear a t-shirt because other people didn't think you were straight and respected that - NO - everyone ALWAYS assumes people are straight...and if they don't they pick on them. That is the point of the day of silence. It's is kinda of like wearing a T-shirt saying "White males make more because they deserve to" during Canada's day of rememberance for Women's violence. The point is about reminding those who are trying to get equality in the minds of people that you are the majority and you are going to be in the majority every day of the year - which is why they want to rain on Day of Silence - the whole concept that if everyone doesn't know that better Straight is superior or at least mainstream and reminded EVERY day, then...geee who know what might happen. But at least we now know one person who is really threatened by that.
ReplyDeleteRant concluded - please continue normal programming.