Free Speech Must Trump Political Correctness

Timothy Morrison is a student at Boyd County High School in Kentucky. He is a Christian who desires to share the good news of Jesus Christ with his fellow classmates. Nothing surprising about that. But those who do not seem to care as much about Timothy’s free speech rights as they do about political correctness may have been surprised at what the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit had to say in Timothy’s lawsuit Monday.

As a Christian, his worldview means that he–just like many other people–has a perspective on homosexual behavior that is in accord with his faith. However, Timothy was gagged from sharing his point of view at school, even though people with a different view were free to share theirs, all because of the school district’s speech policies. In fact, the speech policies themselves said that if any student violated the policies, he or she would be subjected to discipline, including suspension and possible referral to local and state police.

But Monday the 6th Circuit held that Timothy did indeed state a valid free speech claim, so it sent the case back to the district court for trial. The lawsuit, Morrison v. Board of Education of Boyd County, argues that that the school district’s speech policies unconstitutionally prohibited student speech that was “negative