How You Can Make a Difference: A Guide to the First Amendment for LGBTQ+ Youth in Delaware

You can often access school board meetings physically or virtually, and speak your mind to the representatives on the board and the community members that are present. School officials generally may not punish you for expressing yourself at a school board meeting, so long as you abide by the rules of the board. 

Outside of school, on your own device, you can publish and post your opinions about your school and school district, whether you’re praising or criticizing something or someone (be careful mentioning people by name though, because if you end up misrepresenting the facts about somebody, that can cause problems). When it comes to using a computer at school, or your school’s WiFi, the school’s policies may limit what you can and can’t say or do.

Words like “publishing,” “posting,” and “press” come from a time when most news was actually printed on paper from a printing press, thus “Freedom of Press” is how the First Amendment refers to publishing text, but now with the Internet, most of our “publishing” happens online. When we “post” online, like on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc., that actually comes from when people would nail flyers to a wooden post somewhere in a public place to share information – you’re free to do that too, in fact you might find that printing out flyers or posting something on a cork board may reach somebody who has limited internet access or doesn’t follow you online. Sometimes there’s no school like the old-school! If you’re looking to publish your ideas in something a little more formal, keep in mind that the school will have the ultimate say about what gets published in a school newspaper or yearbook.

You can protest your school or school board’s policies publicly or privately. When we think of protesting, oftentimes we imagine huge marches with thousands of people carrying signs and loudly chanting. This might work for you, but there are lots of really creative ways that people can protest. In fact, to “protest” simply means to declare that you disapprove of something. You certainly can get a group of students together and make signs and slogans. Or maybe you’re not much for crowds or don’t feel like you have many allies, and would prefer to simply stand silently with a sign that you made all on your own. During the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 60s, protesters organized “sit-ins” where they simply went into diners that Black people weren’t allowed into and sat down, refusing to move. Your protest could be as simple as coordinating with all your friends to wear a certain color shirt to school, or wear a black arm band to signify your protest. 

Caution: If you do decide to gather somewhere, it must be a public, rather than private place, such as your school, your city hall, or a park. You can’t just show up at a school board member’s house and have a sit-in on their living room floor – that would be trespassing and you could get arrested for that.

Caution: If you do decide to engage in some sort of protest, be aware that if you break a rule or a law, you can and probably will face the consequences of breaking that rule or law. Your protest may be very noble, but that does not protect you from consequences. Some protesters decide beforehand that their cause is more important than the consequences, and those protesters are often aware that they will likely be punished or arrested and proceed anyway. That is a personal choice, in the same way that breaking a rule or law under other circumstances is a personal choice. The law requires you to go to school, so a school can discipline or punish students who participate in a walkout or who miss class. You cannot be punished further for the meaning or the message behind the walkout or protest. It’s always good to be aware of your school’s policies.

(Want to learn more? Check out: 
https://www.aclu.org/issues/free-speech/student-speech-and-privacy )

A petition is a document that requests a change from some authority figure (like a principal, or a school board). You can create a petition that addresses some issue you would like to see changed and gather signatures from all the people who support your idea. Petitions may seem super formal and complicated, but they’re actually very simple. 

Want to learn more about how to write a petition? Check out our website!