ACLU Supports Teen Suspended for Nose Ring Worn for Body Modification Religion
The American Civil Liberties Union is supporting a 14-year-old North Carolina teen suspended from school for wearing a nose ring.
Ariana Iacono says the First Amendment supports her right to wear a nose ring as part of her religion, the Associated Press reports.
Iacono and her mother belong to the Church of Body Modification, whose members view tattoos and piercings as ways to experience the divine, AP says. “We don’t worship the god of body modification or anything like that,” explained the Iaconos’ minister, Richard Ivey. “Our spirituality comes from what we choose to do ourselves. Through body modification, we can change how we feel about ourselves and how we feel about the world.”
Officials with the North Carolina ACLU chapter have contacted Johnston County school officials to express their concerns, the story says. Iacono’s school bars several types of facial jewelry, but allows accommodations for sincerely held religious beliefs.
