For the record, I was there. I heard it, and everyone sitting around me heard it. It was not a few. The entire student section was yelling it for all they were worth. It went on for quite a while.

To be fair, if Manual is a full-fledged public school, there's not really much that the administration could do short of asking them to stop, warning them that their behavior was unbecoming, etc.

 

You can't really get into the free-speech issues of suspending students for speech just because it's homophobic. If it's harassing someone specific or targeting a known sensitivity, that's different, but still probably more of an issue for the police at the game.

 

I'm not advocating homophobic speech and definitely think it's wrong, but there are just a different set of issues for things like that at a public school's event outside of school hours as compared to a private school's.

 

It definitely would not be a police issue unless the Manual powers that be request some type of help and then maybe, maybe not. The police would probably only help with an ejection.

 

And we disagree on your first point, I think the Manual powers have every right (and I would argue duty) to stop it on their property or the property of another school.

For the record, I was there. I heard it, and everyone sitting around me heard it. It was not a few. The entire student section was yelling it for all they were worth. It went on for quite a while.

 

Did Manual have any school representatives that either heard it or were in such a position that they should have heard it?

I have no idea who was on the Manual side, but anyone on that side heard it.

Although I find that chant classless, I like how Cov Cath handles it sometimes, they start a "we are gay" chant, kind of takes the wind out of the sail of the opponent if they have a gay chant after.

 

I'm not advocating homophobic speech and definitely think it's wrong, but there are just a different set of issues for things like that at a public school's event outside of school hours as compared to a private school's.

Inappropriate chanting should be stopped regardless of the school. Nobody gets a pass.

Edited October 12, 201313 yr by hoops5

 

Can't really paint the whole school with a broad brush for the actions of a few.

:thumb: Agreed. While I'm sure the chanting was loud, I'm sure there were plenty of students that did not and were not pleased with their peers.

To be fair, if Manual is a full-fledged public school, there's not really much that the administration could do short of asking them to stop, warning them that their behavior was unbecoming, etc.

 

You can't really get into the free-speech issues of suspending students for speech just because it's homophobic. If it's harassing someone specific or targeting a known sensitivity, that's different, but still probably more of an issue for the police at the game.

 

I'm not advocating homophobic speech and definitely think it's wrong, but there are just a different set of issues for things like that at a public school's event outside of school hours as compared to a private school's.

 

Disagree strongly. Free speech rights of students can and should be limited by administrators when they are hateful, directed at a specific group of people and on school property.

To be fair it was only chanted 4 or 5 times and it abruptly stopped, I would assume by an administrator. Jerry Mays, the principal, is a class act. No way he condoned this. That said it certainly seems that many schools in JCPS, which is supposed to value and foster diversity, seem to view homosexuality as something to be ridiculed.

For years before, and even after Newport Catholic became co-ed ('83-'84), we always heard the chant...."homo hill", didn't bother us at all since it was usually as we were beating the :poop: out of a team. :lol2:

If RP says it then they were acting out of order. You just can't expect much from kids today.

 

It's never the kids, it's the adults.

Nope. But, why would that matter?

 

You said earlier you don't see that type of behavior. The "gay" stuff is always directed at the 3 all-boys schools in the state.

To be fair, if Manual is a full-fledged public school, there's not really much that the administration could do short of asking them to stop, warning them that their behavior was unbecoming, etc.

 

You can't really get into the free-speech issues of suspending students for speech just because it's homophobic.

 

What the ?

 

Of course public schools can control what their students say at sporting events. It's not a constitutional issue.

It's high school kids, can't get too worked up over it since it happens everywhere. Kids are idiots. Now it's not right and I believe it shouldn't be allowed. But I'm not as appalled as if it were an adult saying stuff like that.

It definitely would not be a police issue unless the Manual powers that be request some type of help and then maybe, maybe not. The police would probably only help with an ejection.

 

And we disagree on your first point, I think the Manual powers have every right (and I would argue duty) to stop it on their property or the property of another school.

 

 

On the police issue, I was meaning more toward menacing/harassment (i.e., to the point that it would have required ejecting them from the game or at least a very firm warning to "cut that ish out").

 

 

I know that the right thing to do would have been to stop it, but I'm just saying that other than asking them to stop, the request might not have a lot of teeth.

 

I don't know if there's really precedence for a public school suspending students for doing a chant like that. Just because someone has an unpopular and/or uneducated opinion doesn't mean that the school could take actions to correct it. It could be a slippery slope.