June 27, 2006 | Sex & Society

Suit says teacher fired for art

Teachers do not give up their First Amendment rights when they pick up the chalk. So insists the Louisiana chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which has filed a lawsuit against a local school board on behalf of a teacher who says she was fired because of  risque art on her personal website.

New Orleans artist Heather Weathers began teaching at Comeaux High School in Lafayette, La., in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. According to local newspaper The Advocate, parents soon found out about Weathers' website, which describes its content as art that “addresses stereotypes and taboos about women’s bodies."

Because that art includes sometimes graphic performance, sculpture, photography, painting and video, which the Lafayette Parish School Board considered inappropriate for a teacher,  it dismissed her.

"Teachers do not cease to be citizens upon being hired as teachers," ACLU staff attorney Katie Schwartzmann said in a written statement. "Even if school officials find Weathers' speech offensive, they do not have the ability to censor it."

According to the lawsuit filed on Weathers' behalf, some of her students found the website and told their parents about it. The site includes a disclaimer that some sections are only appropriate for adult viewing.

HeatherWeathers.com includes a performance piece in which Weathers dons a meat bikini to protest the objectification of women's bodies, as well as one in which she paints her rear end in order to stencil it onto wall coverings.

Oops, looks like Heather got objectified right out of a job. Maybe her stuff isn't on the scale of Michelangelo's David, but we shall see if  the First Amendement protects all asses-turned-art equally.

• Suit says teacher fired for art [The Advocate / WBRZ]