WHO: ADF Senior Counsel Nate Kellum
WHAT: Available for media interviews following hearing in
Nuxoll v. Indian Prairie School District #204 Board of EducationWHEN: Friday, April 4, immediately following oral arguments, which begin at 9:30 a.m. CDT
WHERE: Outside the entrance of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, 219 S. Dearborn St., Room 2721, Chicago
CHICAGO — Alliance Defense Fund Senior Counsel Nate Kellum will be available for media interviews following oral arguments Friday before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit in a lawsuit against the Indian Prairie School District. ADF attorneys are appealing a federal judge’s decision to prohibit Christian high school students from expressing their views on homosexual behavior.
"Christian students shouldn’t be discriminated against for expressing their beliefs," said Kellum. "The Constitution prohibits school officials from singling out one viewpoint for censorship while allowing opposing viewpoints to be heard."
ADF attorneys represent Alex Nuxoll, a student at Neuqua Valley High School in Naperville. Nuxoll is not only prohibited from wearing a shirt bearing the message "Be Happy, Not Gay," but from expressing any message that would be viewed as critical of homosexual behavior. Other students at the school are permitted to wear shirts with messages supporting homosexual behavior as part of the "Day of Silence," an event promoted by the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network. Nuxoll desires to express his perspective at various times throughout the year, including the day after the "Day of Silence."
On Aug. 27, 2007, ADF attorneys filed a motion asking the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, to stop school officials from silencing Nuxoll while the lawsuit proceeds. A federal judge denied the request, so ADF attorneys appealed (
www.telladf.org/news/story.aspx?cid=4349).
ADF attorneys filed the original lawsuit March 21, 2007, on behalf of Nuxoll and then-student Heidi Zamecnik. School officials told Zamecnik, who has since graduated, to either replace or alter her T-shirt, which bore a message similar to Nuxoll’s.
A fact sheet is available on the lawsuit,
Nuxoll v. Indian Prairie School District #204 Board of Education, at
www.telladf.org/UserDocs/ZamecnikFactSheet.pdf.
ADF is a legal alliance defending the right to hear and speak the Truth through strategy, training, funding, and litigation.
www.telladf.org