by TChris

Jarred Gamwell is the kind of politician our country needs. He believes that being honest and open is the best way to run for office. He stands up for his principles. He thinks voters will respond to a self-deprecating sense of humor.

Too bad you can’t vote for Jarred. He’s running for student council president at James Hunt High in Wilson, N.C. And Jarred is getting an ugly lesson in politics from Principal Bill Williamson.

Williamson took down two posters containing slogans that helped define Jarred as a candidate: "Queer Eye for Hunt High" and "Gay Guys Know Everything!" Williamson deemed the messages "disruptive of the educational process" and irrelevant to the campaign for student president. But the slogans aren’t irrelevant to Jarred, who believes that political candidates are entitled to stamp their unique identities upon their campaigns.

Defending Williamson’s judgment that references to sexual orientation are inappropriate in student elections, the school district’s attorney said: "There are North Carolina Statutes that make certain acts in a homosexual relationship criminal in nature." The district’s lawyer hasn’t made it to the law library lately -- apparently hasn’t read a newspaper, and certainly hasn’t read TalkLeft -- or he would realize that he’s basing his argument on unconstitutional statutes.

Political speech lies at the core of the First Amendment. A school that does not respect the First Amendment cannot teach students to respect the Constitution. Student governments help students learn about democracy in a hands-on way, by participating in the democratic process. Ironic then, that a school would use that process to teach students that discrimination is better than diversity, that censorship is preferable to free speech.