Texas Lawmakers Approve Students Rights Bill
The Texas Legislature voted last week to protect the right of students to talk openly about their faith at school-sponsored events, The Austin American-Statesman reported.
The Religious Viewpoints Anti-Discrimination Act, sponsored by Republican Rep. Charlie Howard, creates a model for schools that allows such speech in "limited public forums."
Kelly Coghlan, an attorney who helped write the measure, said it provides much-needed guidelines for school officials who often quash protected religious speech for fear of lawsuits.
"School districts want to do the right thing – they just want to know what it is," he said in a statement. "What the bill does is make our public schools friendly to expression that should never have been discriminated against in the first place."
Kelly Shackelford, chief counsel for Liberty Legal Institute, said the legislation pulls together federal law and Supreme Court rulings into a format that is easy for officials to understand and will end nonsense such as the recent case in which students were not allowed to write "Merry Christmas" in letters to soldiers.
"This is a victory for every student and every Texan," Shackelford said in a statement. "The overwhelming vote speaks loudly for what Texans believe: Religious freedom is a treasure and our children should be protected from discrimination."
