When Juneau-Douglas High School in Alaska let its students out early to watch the Olympic torch pass, Joseph Frederick, a student, and some of his friends unfurled a banner that read “Bong Hits 4 Jesus.” They’d hoped to get airtime on national television. But they got much more. The school’s principal crumpled up the banner and suspended Frederick for 10 days. Frederick sued and the case has made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court — the first student free speech case to make it to the high court in 20 years. Lambda Legal has filed a friend-of-the-court brief in support of Frederick’s right to free speech. We’re asking the Court to reaffirm the First Amendment freedoms that have helped us secure the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning students to be out in school, to take the dates of their choice to the prom and to form gay-straight alliances. This is one of many cases representing Lambda Legal’s work on behalf of youth in schools.
