The press release from Liberty Counsel:
Denver, CO – Liberty Counsel filed a brief asking the Tenth Circuit
Court of Appeals to rule in favor of Erica Corder, a high school
valedictorian who was forced to publicly apologize for sharing her
Christian faith during her 30-second message at graduation.
Liberty Counsel filed a federal lawsuit against Lewis Palmer School
District in August 2007. Erica was one of fifteen valedictorians from
the Lewis-Palmer High School class of 2006. For more than two years,
she has been the subject of criticism because the school continues to
portray her as a student who engaged in improper conduct for mentioning
Jesus Christ during a graduation speech.
Before graduation in May 2006, Principal Mark Brewer informed the
valedictorians that they could choose one student to speak, or that all
of them could deliver a 30-second graduation message. The students
chose to have all fifteen valedictorians participate and chose a
general topic for each speaker. Erica and one other student were chosen
to give concluding messages. Each valedictorian orally presented a
proposed speech to the principal before graduation.
At graduation, Erica delivered a different speech that expressed her
faith in Jesus Christ. Afterwards, she was escorted to see the
assistant principal, who said she would not receive her diploma because
of the speech she had given. Principal Brewer unlawfully threatened
Erica by falsely claiming she could receive her diploma only if she
apologized to the entire school community.
See the rest of the press release
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