School says breast cancer awareness campaign goes too far: “I love boobies” bracelets

Breast cancer bracelets are designed to create awareness but kids wearing “I love boobies” bracelets have create controversy and have now led to a lawsuit.

Thirteen-year-old Brianna Hawk and 12-year-old Kayla Martinez say the Easton Area School District ban violates their First Amendment rights by suspending them for wearing the bracelets.

The bracelets are part of a national breast cancer awareness campaign from the ‘Keep A Breast Foundation’ that started a couple of years ago as a small-scale charity to educate youth about the ‘scary and taboo’ subject of breast cancer using youth’s ‘own voice’ through arts, music and sports programs.

A Pennsylvania school in the Easton Area School District, where the two girls attend school, claims boys were making inappropriate comments about the bracelets, approaching girls wearing them and saying, “I love your boobies,” and some teachers argued the campaign trivializes the seriousness of breast cancer. Schools across the country have restricted the bracelets.

The American Civil Liberties Union has followed through on threats to sue the Easton Area School District over its ban of “I Heart Boobies” bracelets.

The suit was carried out by two mothers on Monday against the school district that suspended their daughters for wearing the popular “I love boobies!” bracelets.

Mary Catherine Roper, an attorney for the ACLU of Pennsylvania, said the girls wore the bracelets because they wanted to raise awareness of a disease that had affected people close to both of them.