|
Posted: 10:18 PM Feb 6, 2012
Ind. student sues to wear breast cancer bracelet
LAFAYETTE, Ind. An Indiana eighth grader sued his school district in federal court Monday for the right to wear a bracelet promoting breast cancer awareness with the message "I (heart) Boobies."
Reporter: Associated Press Email Address: newscenter16@wndu.com |
|
An Indiana eighth grader sued his school district in federal court Monday for the right to wear a bracelet promoting breast cancer awareness with the message "I (heart) Boobies."
The lawsuit says the boy's mother bought the bracelet for him in support of the Carol M. Baldwin Cancer Research Fund, named after
actor Alec Baldwin's mother, a cancer survivor. He wore the bracelet to Roosevelt Middle School for two days without causing a disruption. On Jan. 6, the vice principal spotted it and ordered the boy to turn it inside out because it was violating the school's dress code.
The boy's father, Jeremy Glander of Monticello, spoke to the superintendent of the Twin Lakes School Corp., who said the boy could not wear the bracelet with the message exposed. The ACLU of
Indiana filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Lafayette on behalf of Glander, saying his son, identified as L.G., has a First Amendment right to wear the bracelet.
Superintendent Tom Fletcher did not immediately return a phone
message left Monday by The Associated Press.
ACLU attorney Ken Falk said the boy has not worn the bracelet to
school since being warned he could face discipline if he did. The
lawsuit contends the bracelet does not violate the school's dress code, which specifies that "Students should not engage in speech or conduct, including clothing, jewelry, or hairstyle, which is profane, indecent, lewd, vulgar, or offensive to school purposes."
The lawsuit contends the bracelet is not indecent, lewd, vulgar, offensive to school purposes or obscene and it not disruptive of an
educational environment.
"
It is designed to assist in the fight against breast cancer," the lawsuit says.
A federal judge in Pennsylvania ruled last year that the bracelets were not lewd or vulgar and couldn't be banned by public school officials who found them offensive. That decision is being appealed.
The Indiana lawsuit also contends the boy knows "many other students" at the school who wore the bracelets without disruption
and that he has older siblings at Twin Lakes High School and students there have worn the bracelets without being told to remove
them.
The lawsuit says the boy wants to wear the bracelet to be an advocate for breast cancer awareness and prevention.
"L.G. believes that breast cancer can strike anyone, including his sister and mother, and that it is important to show support for the fight against breast cancer," the lawsuit says.

| WNDU News Poll |
- Ind. woman whose fetus died in suicide try freed
- Car pinned under school bus in S. Ind. crash
- Indy woman charged with murder in pastor's death
- South Bend Juvenile Correctional Facility to close
- Restaurant attack may be battle over views on race
- Study: Gun deaths surpass vehicle deaths in Ind.
- Aging Wabash River bridge in SW Indiana closes
- Democrat Gregg picks Simpson as running mate
- State board seeks public input on sale of raw milk
- Botanist: Blight afflicting flowering pear trees
- Buttigieg working with Rainbow PUSH to get answers in tape scandal
82 Comments - Diocese and others file lawsuit over birth control mandate
56 Comments - Commission seeking input for electric utility tree trimming rule
12 Comments - South Shore feels NATO Summit effects
10 Comments - Pence names running mate in governor's race
9 Comments - Democrat Gregg picks Simpson as running mate
6 Comments





