(Image source: Fox News)
BY ROBERT PARTYKA
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A Texas teen found himself suspended this week after making a comment about homosexuality during class. Something he believes, shouldn’t of gotten him in trouble. KDFW reports.
ANCHOR: “14-year-old Dakota Ary spent most of his day Tuesday serving in-school suspension. The punishment followed a discussion in his German Class at Fort Worth’s Western Hills high school.”
ARY: “We were talking about religions in Germany, and I said that I was a Christan and I believe that being a homosexual is wrong.”
That comment, and the subsequent suspension, made news when Ary’s mother, Holly Pope, hired a lawyer to fight the punishment. Hot Air gives us more.
“The teen’s mother, who was dumbfounded by what she viewed as an overreaction on the school’s part, hired Attorney Matt Krause. Krause persuaded the principal to reduce the sentence and remove the blemish from the boy’s record.”
Krause claims that the suspension was a violation of Ary’s first amendment rights, and the school should have never intervened in the first place. The Los Angles Times quotes Krause saying:
"Just because you walk through the schoolhouse doors does not mean you shed your 1st Amendment rights … Dakota wasn't disrupting class. He wasn't bullying or harassing anybody. He was just stating his personal opinion on a topic somebody brought up and in a civil and respectful manner."
The suspension referral, however, tells a different story, says MSNBC.
“The referral quotes Dakota as saying ‘no gays allowed in Christianity’ and goes on to say the comment was unprovoked, out of context, and quote ‘it is wrong to make such a statement in public school.”
In the end however, Ary survived the issue without any punishments, reports Fox News.
“After a meeting with Pope and her attorney, the school rescinded the two-day suspension so Dakota would be allowed to play in an upcoming football game. ... Liberty Counsel will monitor the situation to make sure there is no future retaliation. Meantime, Pope said her son will return to the teacher’s classroom.”
Ary concluded that he never meant to offend anyone with his comment and that he will be more careful before he makes statements in class.
Transcript by Newsy.