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In April 2004, Tyler Chase Harper was detained for wearing a T-shirt to Poway High School that said, "Homosexuality is shameful. Romans 1:27" on the front and "Be ashamed. Our school has embraced what God has condemned" on the back. Harper wore the shirt the same day a student group observed a "Day of Silence," an annual event that fights harassment of homosexuals.

Harper filed suit in June 2004, and the district court denied an injunction that would have allowed him to wear the shirt while the trial proceeded. In November 2005, Harper's sister, Kelsie, was added to the case, claiming her rights were also violated because she intended to wear the anti-gay shirt during the April 2006 "Day of Silence." The Harpers appealed the district court's denial of the injunction to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled against the Harpers in April 2006. The Harpers appealed again in October 2006, asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the 9th Circuit.

While the Harpers' injunction request was pending, the district court reviewed the suit's claims that Poway's actions violated the First Amendment. In January 2007, the district court did not rule on the substance of Tyler Harper's claims, finding they were moot because he had graduated. But the court ruled against Kelsie on the substance of her claims, saying the school's actions were justified by the need to protect gay students from harassment.

Two months later, the Supreme Court ruled that it could no longer consider the Harpers' injunction request because the district court already ruled on the merits of the case. But it vacated the 9th Circuit's opinion denying the injunction so that Kelsie Harper could appeal the district court decision on her First Amendment claims. Harper then asked the district court to reconsider its January ruling.

In last week's decision, the district court reaffirmed its previous ruling, finding that Tyler Harper's T-shirt infringed on other students' rights, and thus officials were justified in barring students from wearing similar items.

In Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, the Supreme Court ruled that school officials may not punish or prohibit student speech unless they can clearly demonstrate that it will result in a material and substantial disruption of normal school activities or invade the rights of others.

The district court, echoing the 9th Circuit's reasoning in its now-vacated opinion, concluded that because "the record demonstrates that Harper's speech intruded upon the rights of other students, the school's restriction is permissible under Tinker."

"In this court's view, a school's interest in protecting homosexual students from harassment is a legitimate pedagogical concern that allows a school to restrict speech expressing damaging statements about sexual orientation and limiting students to expressing their views in a positive manner," U.S. District Judge John Houston wrote in his Feb. 11 opinion.

Tim Chandler, an Alliance Defense Fund attorney for Kelsie Harper, said the Harpers are still determining their next step.

"The biggest problem with the opinion is that it creates a double-standard," he said. "Schools are telling Christians that they can't defend their beliefs on campus because they might be offensive to other students, but other students are allowed to share beliefs on campus that are offensive to Christian students."

Public schools, Chandler said, are designed to help students deal with ideas they might not agree with, and thus should not censor one side of a debate.

"I think it's an issue of being politically correct and trying to give extra protection to students they see as being possible more vulnerable than other students," he said. "But the First Amendment does not provide you a right to not be offended."

If the Harpers decide to appeal, the next round of briefs would be due in March, he said.

"We've been up and down a lot with this [case] and you keep pushing it, and hope that [the court] can come around," Chandler said.

Calls to Jack Sleeth, attorney for Poway Unified School District, were not returned by Thursday afternoon.