Okay. Men with doll collections! Now THAT is gay!

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are you kidding me? you think she should have been punished because she said “thats so gay”, a very commonly used phrase amongst teens, as well as adults, while defending her religion? im not saying its a good phrase, or it should be so widely accepted, but to put her name in such a derogatory way is wrong to her, and her family (just as it is to do so with the term gay). what if it was turned around, and a gay student said “thats so Mormon”? would this student deserve to be equally punished? i imagine she would have been applauded for standing up for her self if thats how the story went. what about the students harassing her? they deserve no punishment? does she not have the right to have feelings too? i have nothing against gays, or anyone else in this country. what i do have a problem with, is double standards, which is clearly what this case is about. you are sick if you think she is bad for what she did. she is completely innocent, and meant no harm. the administrator who gave her a mark on her record (and was also the head of the gay/lesbian club in the school) was wrong for singling her out. grow some balls, and show some respect for the girl. you know she meant nothing by it, and look what you are doing/saying about her. say youre “thats so gay” series is inspired by teenagers, as well as adults, gay and straight which use this term, rather then just inspired by Rebekah. you ask for tolerance, but yet, you are clearly intolerant yourself.

Thanks for your comment, Mike, but I think you misunderstand what I’m saying. Of course the students who teased her deserved punishment. No question! And I’m sure they were punished, but this is not relevant to the lawsuit brought by Rebeka’s parents. And I agree, there’s absolutely no question that if a gay student used a phrase like “that’s so Mormon” to Rebeka as an insult, then that student should be subject to the exact same punishment as Rebeka. But you have it backwards: What happened here was that Rebeka Rice and her parents wanted special legal protection so that Rebeka could use this particular insult (as opposed to other insults) without fear of punishment. In other words, they were essentially arguing that, while the school should be able to punish people for the hateful use of “that’s so Mormon,” they should not be allowed to use it for “that’s so gay,” because that phrase has a special meaning in the schoolyard that is disconnected from sexual orientation. It’s Rebeka and her parents that are singling out “that’s so gay” for special treatment as a schoolyard taunt, that (unlike all other taunts) is not punishable. That’s the hypocritical position, not the position of the school board, which was essentially that all of these kinds of taunts are punishable by the school.