Assume that a local public high school puts up a large "gay pride--stop homophobia" poster on the wall in the front hallway in order to celebrate Gay Pride Month.
A few conservative religious students and their parents, offended by this poster and its ideological message, complain to the school district's superintendent, who orders the school's principal to take down the display.
How should the Constitution handle a case like this?
Should students and parents offended by the poster have a right to demand it be removed from the public schools? Suppose they claim that it makes them feel like outsiders in the school, because the school's poster amounts to a public endorsement of the idea that the dissenters' religious views about human sexuality and marriage are wrong and perhaps even immoral?
Or should the law tell the dissenters "if you don't like the poster, then avert your eye and don't look at it."
Should GLBT students and allies who want to be able to view this poster have a free speech right, as a willing audience for the poster, to demand that the poster not be removed under fire to appease dissenters who are offended by the poster?
Or should the federal courts stay out of this matter and allow the political process to decide which posters may be displayed and which may be removed at the behest of those who are offended?
Who are the heroes of this hypothetical and who are the villains? Explain your conclusions.
Please feel free to write your answers as comments right here on the blog.
Anonymous comments are fine; just be civil and respectful of others.
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