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)
