ACLU Steps In to Protect Arizona Gay Teen's Rights
March 17, 2009
I’d like to think that if I were the parent of a gay teen I’d be doing as good a job as Natali Quintanilla. Her son Chris is 14 this year, and is out enough to be comfortable wearing a rainbow wristband with “Rainbows are gay” on it. (He apparently got it at Hot Topic, where all the kids get their tacky novelty accessories.)
Anyway, some of Chris’s teachers decided they were offended by his wristband and…well, I’ll let the ACLU tell you what happened next.
After a school principal told a gay 14-year-old student to turn his rainbow wristband inside-out or stop wearing it to school, the American Civil Liberties Union today demanded that the school district rescind its ban of the wristband. In a letter sent to Peoria Unified School District, the ACLU said that the principal’s demand violates Chris Quintanilla’s constitutional rights, pointing to a 40-year-old landmark Supreme Court decision guaranteeing students’ free speech and expression.
“When I asked my son’s principal why he wouldn’t be allowed to wear his wristband to school anymore, he said some teachers found it offensive,” said Natali Quintanilla, mother of the eighth grader whose wristband was banned. “My son is honest and happy about who he is, and I love him and support his right to be himself. There are a lot of things teachers should be more concerned about than one little wristband – like educating our children.”
Okay, first of all, don’t you love Ms. Quintanilla? Isn’t she the best? Her son is who he is and rather than telling him to stop being gay or suggesting that he at least tone it down so people won’t make trouble, she calls Principal David Svorinic and gives him what for. And when that didn’t work…
Quintanilla contacted the ACLU last month after her son Chris’s principal told her he wouldn’t allow her son to wear his cloth wristband with words “Rainbows are gay” to school anymore. When her son was harassed for being gay earlier this school year, Quintanilla said the same principal told her, “If he didn’t put it out there the way he does, he wouldn’t have much of a problem.”
Emphasis on that last line is mine. Principal Svorinic has a history with young Chris, and not a good one. According to Ms. Quintanilla, he seems to think that Chris getting bullied is Chris’s fault. It’s sad how often that happens.
The ACLU has sent a polite letter (pdf) to Dr. Denton Santarelli, Superintendent of the Peoria (Arizona) Unified Schools, requesting that he correct the situation by March 27, 2009. (For more details on the most recent cited court cases, see Florida Community Backs Gay-Bashing Principal from last May.)
Hopefully this will be over by April. If not, the people in the Peoria Unified School District will be looking for a way to pay for attorneys. Regardless of how long it takes, big ups to Natali and Chris Quintanilla. Your bravery is inspirational, quite surely even to some people in the school who haven’t come out yet. Keep it up!
And Chris? Stay away from the Hot Topic, hon. You’ll thank me in 20 years.
h/t Joe.My.God
