WILMINGTON, N.C. — A federal judge today issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting the Sampson County Board of Education and Midway High School officials from enforcing two policies used to prohibit a student from distributing “Day of Truth” message cards to other students. Officials prohibited the student, represented by attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund, from distributing the cards outside of class time during the event April 27 and suspended him from school.
“Christian students are entitled to the same First Amendment rights as other students. No student should be suspended for exercising those rights,” said ADF Senior Legal Counsel David Cortman. “The court’s ruling today prohibits the school district, while the case moves forward, from censoring a student flyer simply because it has religious content.”
“It’s clearly unconstitutional when students participating in the Day of Silence, which supports the homosexual agenda, observe their event by distributing flyers and so forth, but a student with an opposite perspective is prevented from communicating it during non-instructional time,” Cortman added.
The order issued today by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, Southern Division, in the case Arthurs v. Sampson County Board of Education can be read at
www.telladf.org/UserDocs/ArthursPIorder.pdf.
ADF attorneys filed suit against the board of education in May after district officials stated that distribution of religious literature was barred because Arthurs would be “pushing his religion on others” and “religion is not allowed in school” (
www.telladf.org/news/story.aspx?cid=3838).
The Day of Truth, which presents a different viewpoint on homosexual behavior, is held on the day after the Day of Silence. The Day of Silence event, promoted by the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network, encourages students to remain silent throughout an entire day to express their support for the homosexual agenda.
ADF is a legal alliance defending the right to hear and speak the Truth through strategy, training, funding, and litigation.
www.telladf.org www.dayoftruth.org