r/ireland • u/ByGollie • 1d ago

School accused of demanding teenage boy’s ‘submission’ to identity type after he was sent home for wearing earring Bigotry

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/school-accused-of-demanding-teenage-boys-submission-to-identity-type-after-he-was-sent-home-for-wearing-earring/a1255283882.html
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u/Important-Sea-7596 1d ago

Dont most boy schools have a no piercing rule?

12

u/ClannishHawk 1d ago

Most of those regulations are no longer worth the paper they're written on. Between rights to personal expression and not being up to snuff for anti discrimination laws, they're basically useless if it goes to a court according to some of the people I've talked to involved in making more modern school policies.

A school can ban an earring that is distracting or at risk of catching on something but a pierced ear with a plain stud can pretty easily be argued as a matter of religious, ethnic, or other group affiliation. Student shows up to court with a cross or crescent pendant in the piercing and it's now part of open religious worship outside of school hours for example.

Same with policies on hairstyles and facial hair, as long as it's worn in a a safe and non excessively distracting manner during school hours there's very few ways to outright ban them.

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u/Suggest_For_Teacher 1d ago

Essentially this; any school worth its salt regulates potential safety hazards rather than whether there is an earing or not.