Tuesday, April 19, 2011

In Missouri Queer Is Offensive

Out there in Missouri, Jesse Irey is a bisexual Liberty High School student who says that he was simply showing his support for equal rights for all when it was demanded of him to either change his offensive shirt or leave school.

His offensive shirt?
Fags Rule. Um, no, that wasn't it.
Straight People Suck. Not it either.

His shirt said: "Queer + Str8 Equal".
How.Offensive.

So, now Jesse and the American Civil Liberties Union [ACLU] are fighting back against what they say is illegal censorship by the school. 

Jesse Irey says students wear all kinds of shirts with all kinds of sayings on them. In fact, one such shirt says that Liberty High School is a "Hate Free Zone." So, then what's so offensive about Jesse Irey's shirt?

A Liberty High teacher and an assistant principal say the word "queer" is offensive.
Queer. But Jesse Irey says his use of the word 'queer'on the shirt was an attempt to "take the word back so it's not an offensive slur." Irey is also upset that Liberty High School, that hate free zone, allowed other students to wear anti-gay shirts after the school's Gay-Straight Alliance wore shirts that read 'Gay-Fine by Me.' Those shirts said, "Straight--the only thing fine by me."

So, anti-gay is okay.
And pro-gay is okay.
But, queer. Bad.

That's the message they're sending.

source

3 comments:

  1. School administrations is nothing but leadership by fear. Fear of getting fired. Fear of not pandering to the loudest of the parents. The parents of glbt students need to get loud, and keep loud, and get with any other parents who agree with their stance and keep the pressure up. Who knows, maybe times in school will change then, but i dont count on it.

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  2. Bob, I rather like reclaiming the word(queer) that was used to defame and belittle me, until i was an adult. i like turning it into a source of independent pride and power. I like the fact that it makes people uncomfortable and forces them to think about how the word is used in different settings. I also understand the other GLBTQ side of the argument and why some people won't use it or accept it to describe themselves. That is most certainly their right. I'm very proud of all the of things I am now and I won't let anyone else define me, including my own people. I've had enough of that. The article above is a simple free speech issue, as far as I am concerned.

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  3. Anonymous10:34 AM

    hi my name is jesse and that is me on the video i thank you both for the support and i will not be quite i will yell this from the roof tops untill i am heard thank you again so add me on face book under jesse irey

    ReplyDelete

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