Clay Calvert Comments on Elimination of High School Yearbook Photos Depicting “Don’t Say Gay” Protests

Clay Calvert, director of the Marion B. Brechner First Amendment Project and Brechner Eminent Scholar in Mass Communication at the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications, is quoted in “Seminole County High School to Cover Yearbook Photos of ’Don’t Say Gay’ Student Protests” published in the Orlando Sentinel on May 10.

The article focuses on Lyman High School’s decision that pictures and descriptions of the protests against Florida HB 1557 did not meet school board policy. However, the publication’s staffers consider this action as censorship.

Calvert thinks blocking the photos could raise First Amendment issues for the district. “I don’t see any legitimate teaching concerns here,” Calvert said. “The speech that is being censored is political speech that is at the heart of the First Amendment.”

Posted: May 10, 2022
Category: College News, Marion B. Brechner First Amendment Project News
Tagged as: Clay Calvert, Marion B. Brechner First Amendment Project