A high school student from Plainwell, Michigan, told Newsmax on Friday that he is suing his city's school district after he was suspended in October for "a private conversation with a friend over text message" six months prior that contained his Christian views on sexuality and gender.
The student, David Stout II, was accompanied by his attorney, David A. Kallman, who works on behalf of the Great Lakes Justice Center, during his appearance on "Eric Bolling The Balance."
"I had a private conversation with a friend over text message in the summer, and somehow the school had gotten hold of that text message," Stout said.
"They said that I was harassing the student and that I had hurt their feelings and made them feel unsafe in the school environment, and therefore I should have been punished," he added.
According to the lawsuit, Plainwell Community Schools justified its actions by saying Stout had violated its policy on cyberbullying and had laughed at "inappropriate racial and homophobic" jokes made on school grounds the same summer.
"This was a close friend that I had," the Plainwell high school student said. "We were hanging out a lot, and they never asked me to stop. We were having a conversation, and somehow it got out."
Stout's lawyer characterized the decision to suspend Stout by the district as a "blatant violation of the First Amendment."
"They have no right to have a heckler's veto over speech or to stop it," Kallman said of the district.
"David wasn't attacking any particular person. He was espousing mainstream, mainline Christian belief on religious topics," he added. "To say that that's somehow creating an unsafe environment is just plain silly."
Note: See Newsmax TV now carried in more than 100 million U.S. homes, on DirecTV Ch. 349, Dish Network Ch. 216, Xfinity Ch. 1115, Spectrum, U-verse Ch. 1220, FiOS Ch. 615, Frontier Ch. 115, Optimum Ch. 102, Cox cable, Suddenlink Ch. 102, Mediacom Ch. 277, AT&T TV Ch 349, FUBO and major OTT platforms like Roku, YouTube, Xumo, Pluto and most smart TV’s including Samsung+, Sony, LG, Vizio and more – Find All Systems that Carry Newsmax – Click Here
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.