Liberty Counsel Stops Censorship of Jesus and Patriotic Messages from Homecoming Parade Floats

November 6, 2003

Mathew D. Staver

Orlando, Florida – Late yesterday, School administrators at Dr. Phillips High School agreed to allow two student club floats for the homecoming parade (set for Thursday) after being threatened with a lawsuit. On Tuesday, Principal Trochinski told the students of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) and the Young Republicans Club (YR) and their sponsor that the floats were banned because their messages were “offensive” and “too controversial”. The groups are represented by Mathew D. Staver, President and General Counsel of Liberty Counsel, and Erik Stanley, Litigation Counsel for Liberty Counsel.

The theme of homecoming is “Rock the Night Away.” FCA wanted to have a float with a theme of “Let Jesus Rock Your Night Away.” The float would depict people holding signs such as, “drugs, alcohol, sex, etc.” and then another person miming to each of the people that Jesus loves them. They would then tear up their signs. The float was intended to convey the message of letting Jesus Rock the Night Away instead of negative things such as drugs, sex or alcohol.

YR wanted to have a float that reenacted the tearing down of Saddam Hussein’s statue. The float’s theme, “America Rocks the World”, and would depict the Iraqi people being oppressed by Saddam Hussein until the Americans came and liberated them and tore down the Saddam statue.

On Tuesday, Principal Trochinski told both FCA and YR that their ideas were “offensive” and “too controversial.” The Principal told the FCA that the word “Jesus” was too controversial and he also told the YR that their message could offend Muslims. The Principal equated the messages to someone pulling their pants down in front of a crowd or giving the crowd “the finger”.

Tuesday afternoon Liberty Counsel faxed a letter to the Principal stating that the students had a constitutional right to have their message communicated without censorship. Liberty Counsel gave the school a deadline of 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, but that morning Principal Trochinski insisted to the media that he would not allow the messages. When the deadline passed, Liberty Counsel began preparing a lawsuit and advised the school it would be filed Thursday morning since the homecoming was Thursday evening. Shortly thereafter, the school agreed to allow the floats without censorship.

Mat Staver stated, “We are obviously pleased that the school agreed to abide by the Constitution. These students have a right to free speech, and the school’s actions in denying them their right to free speech was clearly unconstitutional.” Staver added, “Christianity and patriotism are not obscene. What is distressing about this case is that an almost identical situation occurred a few years ago with the same school at homecoming with the FCA club over the message ‘John 3:16.’ The Constitution protects the students’ rights to free speech even if the speech is deemed controversial or offensive. It’s time for school officials to learn about our constitutional guarantees to freedom of speech. At least their students understand that simple lesson.”

News Focuses on Jesus
A prominent headline in this morning's Orlando Sentinel newspaper says "Floats Featuring Jesus, Saddam, Stay in Parade." If the school principal had not objected to the content of the floats, no one except those attending homecoming would have ever seen the Christian and patriotic messages. Now, due to his attempted censorship, the messages are being spread across America. This situation underscores the principle that what satan means for evil, the Lord can use for good. These young people deserve praise for standing up for their faith.

Mathew D. Staver, Esq.
Liberty Counsel
http://www.lc.org.

An Ally of the Alliance Defense Fund