A group of about 12 students have been seen wearing anti-gay symbols on their student ID badges at Shadow Hills High School. Naturally, this has quite a few people upset – but school administrators claim to be powerless as the students are protected under freedom of speech.

The badges show a rainbow pattern with a circular red anti sign around it. The Desert Sun reports that some student began wearing them a few weeks ago and one of those students even changed his Google Classroom profile picture to the symbol of hate.

School officials say there is nothing they can do about the symbols.

“After consulting with district level personnel and our legal counsel, it was determined that these students do have the protected right to freedom of speech, just as students portraying rainbows in support of the LGBT would,” an emailed statement sent to staff Wednesday by administrators said.

The students wearing the badges did meet with school officials and were told that bullying and harassment would not be tolerated – but that they could still wear the badges.

None of the students wearing the symbol spoke with the local media as to why they are doing it.

Michelle Bachman, a senior at Shadow Hills and vice president of the Gay Straight Alliance, believes that it all comes down to hate speech.

“This group of students was publicly displaying an intolerance and hate for the LGBT community when a large portion of our students at SHHS are part of the community or close to people a part of it as well,” Bachman said on Twitter through a direct message conversation with The Desert Sun. “This is definitely hate speech, but legally, we can’t do anything until these students start to physically harass us, which I believe is an injustice.”

Meanwhile, upon hearing the news of the anti-gay badges on social media, Paige Labayog of Palm Desert Middle School, began to make and distribute pro-gay badges around campus.

“Some of them they don’t feel comfortable with their sexuality,” Labayog, an eighth grader, told KESQ.

“It’s OK, I’m accepting to anyone’s sexuality, it’s OK to be that way.” she said.