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After Liberty Counsel warned the Itasca Public School District that it cannot censor two students, Christiana and Gloryanne Gatbunton, who wanted to sing portions of the song “Call on Jesus” in the talent show at the Elmer H. Franzen Intermediate School just outside of Chicago, the school reversed course, and now the students will be able to perform the song. 

In a talent show, public schools are prohibited from banning student acts because of their religious perspective. By opening a forum for student expression, permitting expression so long as it is not religious establishes unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination. The Gatbunton sisters’ performance would be received by any reasonable person as reflecting a personal inspirational statement of the two singers, not their school. The U.S. Supreme Court acknowledges, “private religious speech, far from being a First Amendment orphan, is as fully protected under the Free Speech Clause as secular private expression.” This is true even where students’ private religious speech occurs in a school setting. Shortly after Liberty Counsel warned that its censorship crossed the line, the district announced that it reversed its position.

For more details on this situation, read our News Release.

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