Suspension for Condom Display

* In response to “Girl Suspended for Condom Display Files Suit,” March 19:

How refreshing it is to find a 14-year-old girl who has courage and the quality of leadership beyond her years, beyond her peers and beyond the administration of the Los Angeles Unified School District.

The parents of all school-aged children should be marveling at Astrianna Johnson’s bravery, and wondering what the purpose is of all those character-building programs. Are all the ribbons awarded for respect, courage, citizenship, leadership and honesty merely symbolism without substance? When a child displays these qualities in a big and unusual way, in a way that communicates loud and clear on a level with her peers, gains their attention and respect and actually makes them think, she is tossed out of Bethune Middle School because, as a school district spokesman said, the principal thought there was a “greater right”--to prevent her from her right to free speech because the other students might be disrupted.

Hey, principal! Hey, school district administrators! See those little girls over there getting pregnant? See those young, beautiful children dying from AIDS? They need to be disrupted! And so do you, so you can wake up and see that Astrianna Johnson is doing what you should have been doing five years ago, educating our children on the importance of using a condom during the sex that you can’t seem to be able to stop them from having.

Eighth grade is the year the U.S. Constitution is taught. Let Johnson go back to class where she can read about how she exercised her right as a citizen of this free nation. CAROLYN HONIGMAN

Laguna Hills

* I am appalled at the mother of Astrianna Johnson for allowing her daughter to wear condoms pinned on her clothing to school. I don’t think the mother is teaching her daughter correct moral values in a time when AIDS is prominent. Rather than allowing her daughter to wear condoms to school, she should have taught her to promote abstinence until marriage, to her fellow students.

As for Astrianna Johnson’s lawsuit against the school, I know her allegations of school officials restraining her freedom of speech will not have any merit and will be thrown out of court. Astrianna is merely a student and not a teacher. Her efforts should be expended in her studies and not in promoting safe sex.

Condom use is not the solution to preventing AIDS, other sexually transmitted diseases or pregnancy. Condoms are not 100% effective; abstinence is.

HECTOR NASH

Downey