School Pays 20K in ‘Jesus Is Not a Homophobe’ T-Shirt Lawsuit

[WSJ Law Blog]

On Monday, a federal judge in Ohio ordered the Wayne Local Schools to pay $20,000 in damages and court costs to a student who was twice prevented from displaying the message "Jesus is not a Homophobe" on a T-shirt in school.

U.S. District Judge Michael Barrett’s judgment matched a settlement the school district offered earlier this month to Maverick Couch, the student who wore the shirt to school, according to the Daily News.

Mr. Couch said the shirt was a statement of pride and expressed hope other students will know they can feel pride too, the Huffington Post reported.

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[Lexus]

Homophobia is a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who are identified as or perceived as being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. Homophobia is observable in critical and hostile behavior such as discrimination and violence on the basis of non-heterosexual orientations. In the United States, attitudes about people who are homosexual may vary on the basis of partisan identification.