A South Carolina teen finds herself at odds with administrators at her high school after reportedly being suspended for wearing a lesbian-themed T-shirt.
Briana Popour, who is a student at Chesnee High School, tells local CBS affiliate WSPA that she was told she needed to change her T-shirt, which was emblazoned with “Nobody Knows I’m A Lesbian,” or go home. School officials, she said, argued that the shirt was “offensive and distracting” and hence violated the school’s dress code.
Popour, 18, was ultimately sent home, and said she has not been addressed by the school administrator, whom she did not name, since the T-shirt confrontation.
The student came out as a lesbian “two or three years ago,” and has received lots of support from her family, friends and classmates, according to Yahoo! Parenting. She said it wasn’t the first time she’d worn the T-shirt to school.
Ultimately, she was sent home, and said she has not been addressed by the school administrator, whom she did not name, since the T-shirt confrontation.
The Chesnee High School’s student handbook prohibits clothing deemed “distracting, revealing, overly suggestive or otherwise disruptive,” but makes no mention of items that reference sexual orientation. School officials have yet to comment to media regarding the story.
Popour feels her suspension has greater implications for the school’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) student population.
“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,” she said.
For now, however, Popour isn’t backing down, and insists she won’t be making any wardrobe adjustments.
“Today I wore a shirt that says, ‘Keep Calm and Kiss Girls,’” she told WSPA.
