ACLU files suit over gay T-shirt ban

The American Civil Liberties Union on Wednesday sued a Missouri high school that allegedly disciplined a girl for wearing T-shirts with gay-friendly messages. LaStaysha Myers, 15, said she was sent home twice from Webb City High. She is straight but wore shirts with such handwritten phrases as "I support the gay rights!" Dick Kurtenbach, executive director of the ACLU of Kansas and Western Missouri, called the disciplinary action a violation of the U.S. Constitution's guarantees of free speech. A message for school principal Stephen Gollhofer by the Associated Press was not immediately returned Wednesday. Controversy erupted at Webb City High last fall over the T-shirts of a young man that included such phrases as "I'm gay and I'm proud." Brad Mathewson was briefly suspended and returned to school only after promising not to wear the shirts. The ACLU also sent a letter Wednesday to school officials in Ohio, demanding they stop alleged censorship of students who wore T-shirts showing support of same-sex marriage. (AP)