SC High School Suspends Girl For Wearing Shirt Saying, ‘Nobody Knows I’m A Lesbian’

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Briana Popour: Image Via WSPA

Briana Popour is an openly gay student at Chesnee High School, and she was recently presented with an ultimatum by school administrators: Change your T-shirt or be suspended from school.

The shirt in question said, “Nobody knows I’m a lesbian,” and Popour says she wears it for the benefit of other gay students at the school:

“Isn’t that what school is supposed to teach you? To be happy with who you are? Maybe people will be more comfortable showing who they are because you should be able to wear what you want to wear. I’ve worn this shirt before and nobody’s ever said anything.”

When school officials were contacted for comment on why Popour was sent home, they initially refused to issue a response. Later, they emailed a local television station and claimed the shirt was “offensive and distracting.” They also cited the school’s dress code.

But Popour and her mother noted that there is nothing in the dress code that prevents students from expressing their sexual orientation. When confronted with that information, a school official said:

“Not everything is in the handbook.”

So are they just making this up as they go along? Sure seems so.

Briana’s mother says it’s very clear to her that her daughter is being discriminated against by the principal:

“He does not like people in his school wearing anything that says anything about lesbians, gays, or bisexuals.”

At this time, it is unclear what school officials will do if Briana Popour wears the shirt again and refuses to leave the school. But it would appear that school administrators are in desperate need of reading the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.