I’d call this suit “gay,” but I have enough problems paying my cable bill let alone a multi-million dollar lawsuit for infringing someone’s Constitutional rights. So I’ll just stick with stupid.
SANTA ROSA, Calif. (AP) - When a few classmates razzed Rebekah Rice about her Mormon upbringing with questions such as, “Do you have 10 moms?” she shot back: “That’s so gay.”
Those three words landed the high school freshman in the principal’s office and resulted in a lawsuit that raises this question: When do playground insults used every day all over America cross the line into hate speech that must be stamped out?
After Rice got a warning and a notation in her file, her parents sued, claiming officials at Santa Rosa’s Maria Carillo High violated their daughter’s First Amendment rights when they disciplined her for uttering a phrase “which enjoys widespread currency in youth culture,” according to court documents.
So, now 22, she decided the best way to keep this off of her permanent record short of burning down the record room or kidnapping the file clerk for ransom was to sue them. Come to think of it, burning down the record room would have had a happier ending.
The student claims her constitutional rights were violated because she used the phrase in a non-sexually suggestive manner. So the issue at hand is whether or not “gay” in “That’s so gay” is derogatory. Of course, it all depends on what your definition of “is” is.
9 responses so far ↓
1 Kreeper // Mar 6, 2007 at 12:14 pm
Thats so ridiculious people wil sue for anything and that princleple is a moron.
2 Kreeper // Mar 6, 2007 at 12:14 pm
#principle
3 mike h // Mar 8, 2007 at 6:16 pm
that is almost as bad as a lady in jacksonvill, fl suing walmart because she slipped on a french fry in the store!
4 Cheryl // Mar 27, 2007 at 8:02 pm
This is absolutley absurd! But reading this reminded me of not to long ago their was a 6-year old charged with sexual harrasment for kissing a little girl on the playground.
5 Angy // Mar 29, 2007 at 9:07 pm
Ok now a 6 year old kissing another girl….so what? it’s not like she knew any better she prolly watches everyday life and people who “like” each other kiss regularly so she was just kissing someone who she liked (in a friend way) (right?)
6 Andre // Apr 11, 2007 at 7:05 pm
Oh my god, it’s just s stupid reply to “you got 10 moms?”…It could have been “that’s to stupid” instead of “that’s to gay”, none of them makes any difference really…And when people says stuff is gay, they don’t even mean homosexual…
7 RawSteelUT // Jul 5, 2007 at 11:35 pm
Quite frankly, the use of “gay” as a pejorative term is tolerated far too much in society. This needs to stay on her record, the principal did nothing wrong.
8 damiansadi // Jul 18, 2007 at 3:16 pm
I agree that the term is overused and derogatory but classifying it as hate speech is just stupid when taken in this context. We need to teach our children to not use thes terms, not permanantly mar thier credentials for the rest of thier lives.
9 Pubudu // Aug 22, 2007 at 1:23 pm
THIS IS FUCKING GAY!!! SUE ME BITCHES!! HAHAHAH!!
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