A Kentucky high school pro-life student organization has been denied the right to hang posters.
Patrick Edwards, president of the club “Students for Life,” is ready to take legal action against his principal at Larry A. Ryle High School in Northern Kentucky.
Edwards, 18, and his fellow Students for Life club displayed posters during freshman orientation for fall semester.
Concerned students “were being forced into the conversation” by pro-life language in the group’s posters, Principal Matthew Turner proceeded to require the group to submit posters for his approval.
Posters the group was allowed to hang on campus were restricted from having a pro-life message.
“We were basically being censored,” Edwards told Fox19 Now.
Principal Turner banned the group from hanging six of seven posters the group submitted for approval.
“Signs are to communicate information about meetings, not to promote or persuade,” reads a sticky note placed on the posters denied for approval.
One posted that was not allowed to be hung at Ryle High School reads:
Save the Baby Humans
Ryle Students for Life
Meeting Every Friday, Mrs. Edmonds’ Room 218
Pizza, Drinks, & Cupcakes
“Other student clubs and students have been allowed to post flyers taking various positions and I was specifically told my flyers could not be posted because the issue was too controversial,” said Edwards in a Students for Life release.
On Tuesday, Edwards’ attorneys sent a demand letter to the principal for violation of the high school senior’s right under the Constitution’s First Amendment and the Equal Access Act (which requires equal treatment for extracurricular activities at federally funded secondary schools).
The demand letter states that the principal “did not want a pregnant mother or pro-choice student to feel discriminated against” as a reason for his censorship. The letter requests that the principal reconsider his decision and allow the Students for Life group to hang its posters.
Edwards said in the release that he would like “to be able to share positive pro-life messages” with his peers, “especially with students who may be facing an unplanned pregnancy or know someone who is.”
“Our aim is never to discriminate but to lovingly present the pro-life message and make a positive impact on our school community,” he continued.
Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America (the nation’s largest pro-life youth organization), calls the situation “outright discrimination.”
“The school has no right to censor a message because they deem it to be controversial, as is the case with Mr. Turner at Ryle High School,” Hawkins said in a statement. “Unfortunately the school administration has failed to uphold the free speech rights of Patrick and we had to seek legal assistance to make sure that his rights are upheld.”
Edwards met twice with the principal to discuss the situation. He tried to resolve the issue with an email on Oct. 7 before Alliance Defending Freedom affiliates and attorneys at Hemmer DeFrank Wessels were brought on to assist.
“The law does not permit a principal to ban speech simply because, in his subjective opinion, the speech is too controversial,” one of Edwards’ attorneys, Kyle Winslow, stated. “Ryle High School’s censorship of Patrick clearly violates the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and must end.”
Principal Turner provided the following comment to The Daily Signal:
The letter of concern was just recently received and is being reviewed by legal counsel. We believe that our school’s procedures are in full compliance with the law and we do not discriminate against students or student groups on the basis of gender, race, religion, marital status, or disability. We have been threatened with litigation and therefore cannot comment any further on this issue.
The demand letter requests a written response from the principal by 5 p.m. on Oct. 20. If the club is not given permission to hang pro-life posters, the attorneys “will move forward with litigation to protect the fundamental rights of students at Ryle High School.”
Edwards wrote a status update on his Facebook page Wednesday: “Hopefully the school will allow our club to exercise our First Amendment rights and the whole situation can be resolved in a peaceful and timely manner.”
