Principal Apologizes for Punishing Student for Pro-Gay T-shirt  | News | Advocate.com

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December 20, 2007
Principal Apologizes for Punishing Student for Pro-Gay T-shirt

A principal at a central New York high school who sent a student home for wearing a pro-gay T-shirt has issued an official apology. Heathyre Farnham, a 16-year-old student at Spencer–Van Etten High School, was sent home in September because her shirt, which read "Gay? Fine by Me," was deemed a disruption.

According to a press release from the Student Press Law Center, principal Ann Sincock apologized to Farnham privately after school district officials said that Farnham's shirt was a form of protected expression.

Barrie Gewanter, director of the local chapter of the New York Civil Liberties Union, pressed the school board on October 23 to issue an apology as well as a public statement that the district would uphold students' right to expression.

"You can't cure the chill of censorship with silence," Gewanter said in a statement.

On November 2, an announcement was made over the school's public address system that the school dress code "does not prohibit students from displaying controversial or political messages" and that tolerant messages are acceptable for expression, according to the release. (The Advocate) 

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