Fridae

A 16-year-old student in Minnesota has sued his school after being told that he could not wear his "straight pride" sweatshirt to school, according to Fox News.

The suit was filed earlier this week by the American Family Association Center for Law & Policy, on behalf of 16-year-old Elliott Chambers, a student at Woodbury High School, and his parents, Kendal and Lana Chambers arguing his free speech rights were violated and challenging the school's discriminatory policies which favor homosexuality.

Elliott said he was called into the school principal's office in January and told the shirt was not allowed in school because it was offensive to gay, lesbian and bisexual students. The sweatshirt carried the trademarked logo "Straight Pride" on the front, and the stick figure symbols of a man and woman holding hands on the back.

The principal, Dana Babbitt, a co-defendant in the case told Elliott he couldn't wear the shirt "because of the recent racial violence at our school, and that it might incite straight-versus-homosexual violence". Officials at the school district have declined to comment.

Elliott explained that it was not his intention to hurt anyone, "It's not meant to bash gays or anything like that at all," he said. "It's just a simple shirt that says 'Hey...I have pride in being straight'".

However, students and staff at the school think differently.

Paula Borochoff, a special education teacher, said that the shirt is a form of harassment that should be banned and the language makes gay or lesbian students, or those with gay or lesbian family members, uncomfortable.

"I think that in order to make the school comfortable for everybody, school principals have an obligation to ban things like that that are hurtful to other people", she told Fox News.

The school has designated "safe" areas for student/teacher discussion and counseling regarding homosexuality.

The Chambers who are Christian said they visited the principal to express their concern about what they said was a double-standard.

Elliott's mother, Lana Chambers, said she was concerned that the school is undermining the moral lessons she is trying to teach her son. "It upsets me that the school system is destroying what I'm trying to build at home", she said.

Stephen M. Crampton, Chief Counsel for AFA called the situation "a case of classic viewpoint discrimination".

"The school has chosen to openly embrace homosexuality and bisexuality, and it does not welcome dissenting points of view", he added.

The AFA is a Mississippi-based Christian group that says on its Web site that it is opposed to "the radical homosexual agenda".