Louisiana Boy Suspended From Public School For Having Long Hair

[KamaAina]

http://www.forwardprogressives.com/louisiana-boy-suspended-from-public-school-for-having-long-hair/

Louisiana, especially the rigidly conservative Protestant part of the state from Alexandria northwards, has a real problem with separating church and state. If you have ever spent any time in the state, you’d know what I’m talking about; if you don’t, bear in mind that the governor wanted to slash college funding but keep tax breaks for his ultra-religious reality show friends at Duck Dynasty up in West Monroe.

Up Interstate 49 in Alexandria, a student is being kept from going to school because he’s in violation of one of their rules. It’s a completely asinine rule in a public school, not a private religious school, and the fact that this is even a news story shows how backwards and contradictory this state can be. What’s so harmful about this child that he’s being suspended until he falls into line with their policies? Maybe his family refuses to vaccinate him or allows him to participate in other behaviors that put other kids at risk? Nope, it’s his hair. Ashton Bodiford has long hair, and because of that, he has to stay home until it is cut.

The family, which moved to Louisiana from Colorado a couple of years ago, finds the rule to be ridiculous – with just cause. They rightly point out that there is no hair length requirement for girls, and that the standards are unequal.

What’s more, the child claims that the length of his hair is partly due to religious reasons, which the school district doesn’t have a right to enforce policies against so long as it isn’t harming others.

[riderinthestorm]

2. He says he has to have long hair like Jesus!

Schadenfreude!

The funny thing is that Louisiana really prides itself on the very blurred line between church and state, and regularly gives the finger to the modern world by doing things like displaying “In God We Trust” at city council meetings, or even allowing the teaching of creationism in public schools. One Louisiana lawmaker recently introduced the “Marriage and Conscience Act” which is little more than a bill designed to boost Bobby Jindal’s extremely slim chances at securing the Republican nomination in 2016 by appealing to the religious right. However, the state already has a religious freedoms law on the books, which you would think applies to Ashton Bodiford’s situation. The Rapides Parish school district and state lawmakers seem to be all about “religious freedom” so long as it is enforcing the clean-cut conservative version of Protestant Christianity that pervades Louisiana and the rest of the Bible Belt. I wonder how the long-haired hippy Jesus would have felt about these hypocrites who claim to be his greatest followers.

[abelenkpe]

3. So they'd toss Jesus for his hair too, yeah?

Pretty crazy. Glad we're in Los Angeles because my son's hair is long, too. He's growing it out to donate to Locks of Love.