A Michigan high school is being sued for suspending a student who expressed religious beliefs and didn’t report other students.
Great Lakes Justice Center Friday filed a complaint in a federal court in the Western District of Michigan on behalf of Plainwell, Mich. high school junior David Stout.
Stout says he is a Christian and believes he should be able to express his religious beliefs, especially if he is not being judgmental of others. Plainwell Community School has already judged the young man and found him guilty of not being a surrogate enforcer of the school’s social policies.
According to David Kallman, the senior legal counsel with the Great Lakes Justice Center, the high school junior was suspended for three days in late October 2021. He was told he was forbidden from attending school or participating in football or band practices. He is a starting defensive back on the football team and leader of the six-member Trombone section. Kallman relayed Stout’s saying his coach lets him participate in the band’s half-time activities as long as he is ready to play at the start of the second half.
He must be good at both because he is reportedly receiving offers from Ivy league school which are reportedly impressed with athletic and academic records.
Trouble began for the young Christian during the school’s homecoming game last year. Two gay individuals were named Homecoming King and Queen, which apparently didn’t go over so well with members of the crowd. They started booing and yelling derogatory, allegedly anti-gay, comments. Kallman insists his client was not involved and didn’t even know it had happened until the school called an assembly the following week to discuss the incident.
“He had just got done playing football,” Kallman said about Stout. “Coach lets me play in band during half time,” his client told him, “then I have to rush to get back to play football.” So, he claims he was unaware of what was going on because he was rushing from one thing to another during the moment.
During the hastily called school assembly, administrators remonstrated against the student body telling them it was unacceptable behavior and they were required to report such acts or words even if it meant reporting themselves. “You need to report other kids who say hurtful or derogatory things,” the students were reportedly told.
A student who had berated Stout in a private text exchange in April 2021 must have reported the communication to school officials since they obtained copies of the text messages exchanged between the two. He spoke of his Christian belief that homosexuality is wrong but was non-judgmental and hoped their friend, under discussion, would mend his ways sometime in the future. The other student got angry and they exchanged words and hurt feelings, as teenagers often do.
“We think what happened was the other kid gave that text from last April to the school,” Kallman opined.
Administrators also sanctioned the junior because of an event that happened at a band camp during the summer. Two freshmen members began telling inappropriate jokes. Stout admits he and a few other band members kind of chuckled but said it was from nervousness about how to respond to the situation. When the freshmen began their second joke, Stout explained he and the others were not comfortable hearing that kind of humor and asked them to stop. They proceeded to tell another joke. At that point, Stout allegedly jumped up and yelled at them to cut it out, which they did.
School officials reportedly told Stout he did not object soon enough and he should have reported the 13 and 14-year-old freshmen to the administration for discipline.
The nail in Stout’s coffin was a private conversation he had with a fellow student in the hallway. It was overheard by a passing student who reported the conversation to administrators, saying he felt unsafe after overhearing the discussion about their religious beliefs.
As a result Stout was pulled into the school office, where he was told he can not make any comments about his religious faith on any of his social media accounts. According to his attorney, Stout could not talk about his Christian beliefs anywhere on campus unless a teacher was present to facilitate and direct the conversation.
“You need a government official to approve your speech?” Kallman asked incredulously. “What country are we living in?”
So, they are suing the school to have the disciplinary action removed from his record. Kallman is also asking for an injunction that prevents the school from censoring student speech in the future.
A call for comment from Plainwell Superintendent of Schools Matthew Montange was not immediately returned.
“What kind of spineless wimps are we raising that this sets them off and they need some kind of safe space?” asked Stout’s lawyer.
Scroll down to leave a comment and share your thoughts.