Q: If a student was cut out of a student news segment because of her sexual orientation, would that be discrimination?
At my public high school, the student news wanted to do a segment about seniors and crushes they had during their freshman year. One girl answered that she had a boyfriend but that she also dated a girl during the time and stated that she is gay. Afterwards, the principal made a student who was editing the student news remove the girl's clip. He did not ask the student, but rather told them what to do, and by taking it off, I believe this would be considered discrimination toward an individual because of her sexual orientation. Would it LEGALLY be considered discrimination, however?
A: To me this is not a matter of discrimination against the student, but the incredible lack of social conscience on the part of the school administrator. There is no right to be included in a high school news article. I’m sure administration staff is allowed to provide editorial supervision over the content which is published. The question really is to what extent the administration staff is allowed to suppress the free expression of ideas by the students themselves.
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