High school student suspended over ‘lesbian’ t-shirt

Last week, 18-year-old high school senior Brianna Popour was sent home from Chesnee High School in South Carolina for wearing a T-shirt with a slogan that one administrator deemed disruptive and distracting: “Nobody Knows I’m a Lesbian”.

She then claimed that when she made reference to the school handbook – which she said mentions nothing about a student displaying their sexual orientation – Briana said the school’s administrator told her: “Well, not everything is in the handbook”.

A teenage girl has been sent home from school for wearing a shirt that sports her as a lesbian, according to a Yahoo! School officials, she said, argued that the shirt was “offensive and distracting” and hence violated the school’s dress code.

Spartanburg School District’s director of public relations, Rhonda Henderson, returned my requests for comment over email, saying that the “particular disciplinary decision was overturned later when administration realized that, although the shirt was offensive and distracting to some adults in the building, the students were paying it little attention”.

Brianna’s mother, Barbara Popour, spoke out in support of her daughter and against the administrator who send Brianna home.

“Isn’t that what school is supposed to teach you?” she said.

So I went home because I wasn’t going to allow him to tell me I can’t wear a shirt that shows who I am.

Briana says that this was about more than just a shirt, and gay teens shouldn’t be afraid of their identitiy.

Popour feels her suspension has greater implications for the school’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) student population. He says that, in some extreme cases, a school may justify banning certain messages by citing risk of a so-called “heckler’s veto”, or fear of a risky response.