Student rights at heart of T-shirt debate

LYNN – Lynn English High School senior Chabeli Hernandez called a fellow student’s decision to don a T-shirt that said all cool girls are lesbians “inappropriate and uncalled for,” outside the school Tuesday.”I can’t go around in a shirt that says ‘all cool people are Spanish,'” Hernandez, 18, said. “And knowing how strict the dress code is, she should have known not to wear it.”Students reacted to the latest controversy to befall the school, with many students saying they didn’t understand why the shirt was such a big deal. But some felt the shirt could be taken as offensive because it seemed to mean that if you weren’t a lesbian you weren’t cool.”I think it was OK for the principal to tell her to cover it up, not because of what it said but because of how it was worded,” said 17-year-old Geoff Black, a junior. “It’s kinda bullying people who aren’t lesbians.”A teacher spotted Rachel Bavaro wearing the T-shirt in the cafeteria in January and sent her to Vice Principal Joseph O’Hagan, who told her to cover it up and not to wear it again to school.Black said there wouldn’t be as much uproar if the shirt had just said, “Lesbians are cool.””That would have been fine because we’re an open school and we’re proud of who we are,” he said.O’Hagan reportedly told Bavaro the shirt was “political” and “offensive to some people,” according to a letter the girl sent to Mayor and School Committee Chairman Judith Flanagan Kennedy.Jamilia Fernandez, 17, said she didn’t find the shirt offensive and she thought O’Hagan’s actions made no sense.”It wasn’t hurting anyone,” she said. “We’re a very open school; we have the (Gay Straight Alliance). I was surprised to hear it happened.”Senior Minesha Washington said if the sentiment was reversed and shirt read “all straight kids are cool” then it would be a different story.”I don’t think the shirt is appropriate for school,” she said.Senior Whitney Bazile, 18, said Bavaro must have known better and chose to wear the shirt as a way to get attention. But Michelle Frasca, 18, disagreed, saying O’Hagan violated Bavaro’s right to free speech by making her cover it up.”She is what she is and she shouldn’t have to hide it,” Frasca said.Bavaro, a sophomore, posted a video on Youtube Tuesday morning setting the record straight on her reasons for wearing the shirt, according to her mother, Dawn Bavaro.”I am not looking for attention, that’s not what I want from this,” Rachael Bavaro says in the video. “I am someone who believes in standing up for what is right.”Bavaro claims in the video that she needs to speak out for the lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender community after reading comments about the situation on news sites, including www.itemlive.com, where she also commented publicly.”It did not ‘disrupt’ anyone until a staff member came up to me in the (cafeteria),” she said in a comment. “I can see how this would be a problem in an elementary school or a middle school, but in high school we really need to be permitted to express ourselves appropriately and in a civil manner. My shirt was in no way provocative.”English High School gained national attention last month when a student posted a video of two girls fighting at a park after school hours. The school suspended more than 20 students they identified in the video.”We’ve gotten a lot of publicity for inappropriate things,” said junior Stella Martinez, 16. “It’s not really fair. It happens everywhere. (O’Hagan) was just doing his job.”Chris Stevens can be reached at [email protected] Provost can be reached at [email protected] the video Rachel Bavaro recorded explaining the decision to wear her T-shirt.