"Straight Pride". (Making a Difference).

On the afternoon of January 16, 2001, 16-year-old Elliott Corbett, then a sophomore, currently a junior, at Woodbury High School in St. Paul, Minnesota, was told by an assistant principal that a female student had registered a complaint against a sweat-shirt he had worn to school that day. The girl represented a group of homosexual and lesbian students offended by the "Straight Pride" logo embossed on the front of the shirt, and a picture of a stick man and woman holding hands on the back.

According to Elliott and his parents, Kendal and Lana Corbett, the shirt was not intended to denigrate other sexual lifestyles, but rather to make a positive statement about heterosexuality at a school that caters to homosexual students by displaying inverted pink triangles (widely-recognized symbols of the homosexual movement) at so-called "safe" sites set aside for student/teacher discussions and counseling about homosexuality and other non-traditional relationships. In the words of Mrs. Corbett, her son's intent was to show support "for the traditional and wholesome way to approach sex ... which is God's plan."

The next day, Elliott, a devout Christian, was summoned to the office of principal Dana Babbitt and told that he would not be allowed to wear the sweatshirt because it violated the school's dress code prohibiting the wearing of items with unacceptable written or graphic depictions that offend others. "Unacceptable" depictions were defined as those commonly viewed as vulgar, obscene, or socially demeaning or derogatory. His sweatshirt messages, Babbitt told him, were not only offensive to the school's gay, lesbian, and bisexual students, but could cause safety problems.

On April 2, 2001, the Center for Law & Policy, legal arm of the American Family Association, filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of Elliott and his parents, contending that the school's disciplinary action against him constituted viewpoint discrimination, and that the school's display of inverted pink triangles promoted homosexuality.

On May 17, 2001, Judge Donovan W. Frank of the U.S. District Court for Minnesota, noting that there was indeed "a strong likelihood" that the school's action was unconstitutional, issued a preliminary injunction allowing Elliott to wear the sweatshirt. On January 2nd of this year, he rendered his final decision. While rejecting the claim that the school was promoting homosexuality, and agreeing that there are circumstances when a school can prohibit student expression ordinarily protected by the U.S. Constitution, Judge Frank held that in Elliott's case Woodbury High officials had failed to demonstrate that the shirt could disrupt school activities. "Maintaining a school community of tolerance includes the tolerance of such viewpoints, as expressed by 'Straight Pride,'" he wrote in his 10-page decision.

Stephen M. Crampton, chief counsel for the Center for Law & Policy, described the ruling as "a tremendous victory for student free speech and a small step toward exposing the hypocrisy of the 'tolerance' agenda."