Politics
Friday June 11, 2004
Virginia School Backs Down: Allows Student To Wear Pro-Life Slogans on Clothing
TODAY'S HEADLINES
E-MAIL
PRINT
MANASSAS, June 11, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Osbourn Park High School, a public school in Manassas, Virginia, backed down from its policy prohibiting students from wearing pro-life clothing after threat of a lawsuit by the Thomas More Law Center. On April 16, 2004, Heather Holbrook, a senior, was told by her assistant principal that she could no longer wear her sweatshirt to school. The sweatshirt displayed the message: "Abortion is Homicide. You will not silence my message. You will not mock my God. You will stop killing my generation. Rock for Life."
The assistant principal's reason for prohibiting the clothing kept on changing. First, the assistant principal claimed the shirt displayed a message the school did not want to promote. Later, when questioned by Heather's mother, the assistant principal claimed the shirt expressed a political message, the same as a Confederate flag. Finally in a letter to Heather's family, the assistant principal claimed Heather's pro-life message was "offensive."
The Holbrook family then contacted the Thomas More Law Center, which does not charge for its legal services. In a letter sent last week to school officials, the Law Center explained that Heather has a First Amendment right to express herself on campus, even on such controversial subjects as abortion, and requested immediate written assurance that Heather's First Amendment rights would be restored. School officials were warned that if they continued to silence Heather, the Holbrook family had the right to file a federal lawsuit to restore Heather's free speech rights.
Two days later, the school district provided written assurance that Heather would be permitted to wear her pro-life sweatshirt to school.
After hearing the news, Heather commented, "I am happy that I can once again express my pro-life views in school. God's message will not be silenced, and to God be the glory."
According to Edward L. White III, Associate Counsel with the Thomas More Law Center, "We handle these cases across the country at no charge because we believe in the pro-life messages advanced by these students, and we will not tolerate the silencing of those messages."
Back to TopLatest Headlines
- Cardinal Rigali: You Can't Claim to be "Reducing Abortions" but Publicly Funding them in D.C.
- General Electric to Use Embryonic Stem Cells for Testing, Phase out Lab Rats
- Ohio Supreme Court Allows Planned Parenthood to Conceal Abortion Records in Sexual Abuse Case
- LifeSiteNews Canada Day and Independence Day Message. Taking a few days off. LSN returns Monday July 6
- Heroically Pro-Life Brazilian Archbishop's Resignation Accepted Under Cloud of Vatican Newspaper Misrepresentation
- Pro-Life Groups Announce New Colorado Personhood Initiative
- Judge Puts Kibosh on DC Gay "Marriage" Referendum
- Al Franken Win Hands Supermajority to Senate Democrats
- Group Funded by Canadian Bishops' D&P Joins with Others to Denounce the "Natural Family" and "Family Rights"
- Financially Troubled Planned Parenthood of El Paso Closes Doors
- Abortion Linked to Subsequent Pre-Term Births, New Research Again Confirms
- New Orleans Homosexual Couple Ask Fed. Court to Overturn Marriage Amendment
- Slim Hope Of New Ontario Progressive Conservative Party Leader Promoting Pro-Life, Pro-Family Issues
- Pope Accepts Resignation of Bishop Caught Involved in Homosexual Encounters
- Young Children Removed from UK Schools for "Inappropriate Sexual Behaviour"
- Northern Ireland Politician Cleared of Wrongdoing after Reiterating Christian Teaching on Homosexual Acts
- UK Conservative Leader Speaks at Gay Pride Fundraiser
- More Letters to the Editor on Canadian Catholic Development and Peace Scandal (July 1)
- Letters to the Editor - Readers Respond to Development and Peace Scandal
- Watch This Dramatic New Video on Catholic Bishops Conference Funding of Pro-Abortion Groups
Most Read this Week
- Homosexual Duke U. Director Charged with Offering Adopted 5-Year-Old for Sex
- Famed Fr. Corapi Calls Canadian Bishops' Dissent from Humanae Vitae "Catastrophic"
- Pope: It is a Childish Faith to Oppose the Church Teaching on Life and Family
- Heroically Pro-Life Brazilian Archbishop's Resignation Accepted Under Cloud of Vatican Newspaper Misrepresentation
- LifeSiteNews Detailed Response to Canadian Bishops' Whitewash Report on Development and Peace
- Young Children Removed from UK Schools for "Inappropriate Sexual Behaviour"
- General Electric to Use Embryonic Stem Cells for Testing, Phase Out Lab Rats
- Is Pro-Choice the New Pro-Life?
- Swedish Parents Won't Tell if Child is Boy or Girl as Gender Experiment
- Cardinal Rigali: You Can't Claim to be "Reducing Abortions" but Publicly Funding them in D.C.
MORE NEWS: 
LifeSiteNews.com Home Page Last 10 Days Archives Special Reports
Copyright © LifeSiteNews.com. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License. You may republish this article or portions of it without request provided the content is not altered and it is clearly attributed to "LifeSiteNews.com". Any website publishing of complete or large portions of original LifeSiteNews articles MUST additionally include a live link to www.LifeSiteNews.com. The link is not required for excerpts. Republishing of articles on LifeSiteNews.com from other sources as noted is subject to the conditions of those sources.