ACLU backs students' 'Free Banana Man' shirts

[September 23, 2011]  STAFFORD, Va. (AP) -- High school students wearing "Free Banana Man" T-shirts to protest a classmate's suspension for sprinting around a football field in a banana costume are drawing support from the ACLU.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia has told administrators at a Stafford County high school that they must let students wear the T-shirts.

Legal director Rebecca Glenberg sent the letter to Colonial Forge High School officials Thursday after students reported being told to remove their yellow T-shirts.

Glenberg's letter urges school officials to respect the students' constitutional right to free speech.

Stafford schools spokeswoman Valerie Cottongim says school officials are reviewing the letter.

She previously told the Free Lance-Star (http://bit.ly/oYhZVB) that a couple of T-shirts were confiscated because students were whipping them around like "rally rags" and creating a disturbance.

[Associated Press]

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