Briana Popour Was Suspended Because Of A T-shirt

I’m a plain t-shirt kinda guy. I don’t like logos on my t-shirts, either on the front or the back; and I don’t like a pocket. I just want a plain t-shirt, in a variety, or in my case, a rainbow, of colors and I’ll be happy.

Now, this isn’t to say I don’t have logo t-shirts; I do. I wear ‘em to sleep in, to cut the grass in, to lounge around the house in. But I don’t wear them out is public because, well, it’s like this: if you sell me a logo t-shirt then I am advertising for you and if I’m advertising for you, then I expect a check, m’kay?

Briana Popour, though, had a different take on the printed -shirt, and wore one to school one day that read:

"Nobody Knows I'm a Lesbian."

Except, they kinda do, because you’re advertising it, though I don’t think she expected to be kicked out of  Chesnee High School in Spartanburg, South Carolina for wearing it.

Especially not when she says she’s worn it several times without incident, though this last time she was pulled from class and taken to the administration offices where she was told the shirt was disruptive and offensive.

When Briana said there was nothing in the school handbook regarding this kind of shirt she was pointed to a passage that read:

“Clothing deemed distracting, revealing, overly suggestive or otherwise disruptive will not be permitted.”

Okay, yeah, there it is, but who makes the call about what article of clothing is offensive or disruptive, and how does a shirt free from obscenity and pornography qualify as offensive?

Briana wasn’t given that answer; she was simply told that the school administrator doesn’t like kids at his school “wearing anything that says anything about lesbians, gays, or bisexuals.”

Briana didn’t like that answer, and wondered about a school that wants to, in effect, shame its LGBTQ students. So, she took her story to the media where she learned that the school's action may be unconstitutional, at least according to a 1969 Supreme Court ruling that stated that the First Amendment applies to schools, which cannot ban unpopular or controversial speech.

But, here’s where it turns, good, and points out what I was saying in a blog post the other day about those protesters we came across in Raleigh — see post HERE — in that sometimes it only takes being heard. As soon as T-ShirtGate blew up in the media and online, and almost before Briana’s suspension had begun, the school had a change of heart and Brandy’s suspension was lifted.

Spartanburg School District 2 spokeswoman Rhonda Henderson now says:

“The dress code disciplinary decision … was overturned when administration realized that although the shirt was offensive and distracting to some adults in the building, the students were paying it little attention.”

Perhaps because the students know better? Perhaps because the students understand that there is nothing offensive about being gay, nothing distracting about being gay …

Nothing bad about a t-shirt … even on with a logo or saying on it.

US News

WSPA

WTF South Carolina? Again With The Anti-Gay?

PK Weiss is a heterosexual mother of four, and the former president of Upstate Pride SC. Every year, when they celebrate Pride in the upstate, the city of Spartanburg issues a proclamation proclaiming the day in question LGBT Pride Day.

This year, however, when Weiss sent an email to the Spartanburg County Council, asking them to issue a proclamation declaring June 4, 2011 to be LGBT Day in the county, she didn't get quite the response she wanted.

The city council refused. In fact, Council Chairman Jeff "Asshat" Horton, who received the email from Weiss, responded with 'No'.

Nothing else. 'No'.
No, 'Dear Ms Weiss. Just 'No'.

"There was no salutation, no closing, no thank you for the invitation. Just "no," and I thought that was rude and dismissive," said PK Weiss. The group will, however, have a march and Pride festival that day at Barnet Park in the City of Spartanburg, whose mayor did sign a proclamation.

But even more than Jeff "Asshat" Horton's simply rude, and simple, response, was the fact that he chose not to even bother asking the rest of the Spartanburg County Council. He said he didn't consult the others about the request because he has a good pulse on what they feel, and no one would have supported it. See, apparently Jeff "Asshat" Horton knows that everyone on the council is an anti-gay, homophobic, bigot, so why bother making a call and asking anyone? Or else, he's afraid they might actually approve of an LGBT Day proclamation, and this bigot wouldn't have that.

So, you know, Spartanburg, maybe the next time Jeff "Asshat" Horton comes up for reelection, or reappointment, to the council, a simple one word response from you all is what's needed.

'No.'

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Seriously, South Carolinians, Knock It The F**K Off

It's been scarcely a month since Joshua Esskew was hit with a beer bottle and then beaten by at least five men, and, well, here we go again. 

Vonte Fuller, a 22-year-old gay man from Spartanburg, was just sitting in a bar--Sideline's Sports & Spirit's--on Sunday, just minding his own business, which I guess gay folks aren't allowed to do in certain parts of South Carolina.

Vonte says a customer simply walked over to him and a pitcher of beer on his head. When he turned around to see what was going on, he was hit in the head with a beer bottle, and then more men joined in, throwing bottles, throwing fists, throwing anti-gay slurs: "I hate you faggots and ... you punks are sick. And all ya'll going to die slow."

Finally, the club security broke up the fight, and kicked Vonte Fuller, and his attackers, out of the bar. Security did not call the police, the bar owner did nothing, and has since said nothing. Luckily, for Vonte Fuller, one patron did call an ambulance.

Taken to the hospital for treatment, Vonte Fuller was visited by a Spartanburg Public Safety officer, who never bothered to take a report. When Fuller said he didn't know the men who attacked him, the officer shrugged and said there wasn't much that could be done.

Um, how about questioning the other patrons in the bar? Bar security might have some answers. The bar owner might know the men's names. Shrug.

But Vonte Fuller didn't give up. After leaving the hospital, he and his family went to the police station to file a report. It was there he learned that the officer's failure to take a report at the hospital is a violation of department policy, according to Lt. Regina Nowak, who said, "Bottom line: a report should have been taken. We have a duty to file that report, even if [the officers] don't agree [that a report needs to be taken.]"

The officer who visited Fuller in the hospital and just shrugged has not been identified, but will be investigated by the department's office of professional standards.

And, of course, since South Carolina has no Hate Crimes Laws, the beating of Vonte Fuller isn't being designated as such by local authorities, though, and remember this is South Carolina, there could be a lynching charge, if the attackers are caught.

See, we have laws against lynching, which is a sad comment on South Carolina, but not against beating a gay man in a bar just because he's gay and you're a moron with nothing better to do.

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Do You Ever Feel Like.....

....you've stepped into your own sideways world, a la LOST?

That's what it feels like today, in South Carolina. I mean, it still looks like South Carolina, and smells like South Carolina--my gardenias are blooming--and, lawdy, it still sounds like South Carolina. But it's a different South Carolina.

And I'll tell you why.

Junie White, the mayor of Spartanburg--in the Upstate for those of you without access to maps and such as--has written an editorial for the local paper entitled, "Do we really have civil rights for all in the city of Spartanburg?"

He talks of growing in South Carolina at a different time, in the 40s and 50s, when not everyone was allowed the same rights and privileges as some folks because they weren't white.

"I had white and African-American friends. If I went to the movies with black friends, we would go to the theater together, but when we entered my black friends would have to go to the balcony and I stayed downstairs. We just accepted it. Afterward, if we wanted to have a soda or a snack, we couldn't go to the Blue Bird soda fountain and sit together. So I would go buy the drinks and we would sit outside. I just accepted that this was the way things were, never questioned whether it was right or wrong."

When you grow up and learn that those are the rules, you also learn not to question the rules. That's simply the way it's done. But today Junie White sees that same discrimination happening to the LGBT community, but now he doesn't think he should simply obey the rules. He wants the discrimination to stop; he doesn't want the LGBT community treated like the black people were treated when he was a boy.

Oh, we don't have literal balconies where we have sit while the straight folk get the good seats; and we aren't told we can't sit at the counter just like the heteros. But there are invisible balconies, and invisible signs, that tell us we aren't like everyone else, that we don't have the same privileges, benefits, and protections as everyone else.

And like most people who come to my little blog, as well as any other LGBT blog on the net, Junie White says the "time for just accepting the way things are is over."

He sees the laws that have been entered onto the books decades ago that were designed to protect against racial discrimination, and he's decided it's time to protect those of different sexual orientations.

"No one should be discriminated against for whom they love, for wanting to walk down the street holding hands, or for sharing things a free American should have the right to share."

So, how in the world did Junie White, who grew up in small-town, racist South Carolina, and became mayor of another town, decide it's time to change the way we think, and act, and legislate.

He listened.

He learned.

He listened, in 2008, when NAACP Chairman Julian Bond said, "When I am asked ‘Are gay rights civil rights?' my answer is always, ‘Of course they are.' ‘Civil rights' are positive legal prerogatives — the right to equal treatment before the law. These are rights shared by all — there is no one in the United States who does not — or should not — share in these rights. Gay and lesbian rights are not ‘special rights' in any way. It isn't ‘special' to be free from discrimination — it is an ordinary, universal entitlement of citizenship."

He learned that the King Center in Atlanta has designated homophobia as a form of racism, and heard Coretta Scott King say, "We have a lot more work to do in our common struggle against bigotry and discrimination. I say ‘common struggle' because I believe very strongly that all forms of bigotry and discrimination are equally wrong and should be opposed by right thinking Americans everywhere. Freedom from discrimination based on sexual orientation is surely a fundamental human right in any great democracy, as much as freedom from racial, religious, gender or ethnic discrimination."

And now, Junie White is ready to do his part.

"All the LGBT folks want to do is have a march, to be recognized in their struggle to have the same rights as all other Americans. As mayor of the city of Spartanburg, I am proud that their organization came forward to ask for the proclamation, because they believe in our city, that Spartanburg is a place where all persons can speak up without fear."

Junie White has given the okay for a Pride parade in Spartanburg; their first ever. And he wants all of Spartanburg to watch and listen and learn, and perhaps, join the march. And they will, Mayor White. All any great march needs is people who share a common belief, whether they are black or white, gay or straight; southerner, northerner, male, female.

All we need is more voices, in odd corners of the world where you'd least expect to hear them, speak up against bigotry and intolerance. It's easier to stand on the sidelines, but it's much more fun, more productive, to join the march.

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