SAN DIEGO -- A North County school district attorney told a federal judge Thursday that school officials were encouraging tolerance and not endorsing homosexuality when they suspended a student who wore an anti-gay message on his T-shirt.

But attorneys for the teen argued Poway High School's response to the shirt was "completely irrational" and that officials squashed the boy's free speech rights.

The arguments came as both sides squared off in court over a federal lawsuit the student, Tyler Chase Harper, filed in the wake of the suspension.

The teenager, who goes by Chase, wore an anti-gay message taped to his clothing on two occasions last April. The message included the phrase "Homosexuality is shameful" and a reference to a Bible verse that addresses the topic.

Chase, 16, and now a junior at the school, is asking the court to make the district stop "selectively banning religious freedom" and grant at least $25,000 in damages, according to his lawsuit.

The district wants the judge to dismiss the suit and argued in court that the state mandates the schools to teach tolerance.

Jack M. Sleeth, the attorney for Poway Unified School District, argued in court Thursday that the school should have the right to remove a message that has a "negative impact."

Sleeth said the teenager could have just as easily gotten his point across with a positive message. Sleeth offered up "love the sinner, hate the sin" as an example.

"If he'd said something positive … he would not have offended anybody," Sleeth said.

The school district, he said, is under a "great deal of pressure" from the state to promote tolerance.

"I think Chase was putting his finger in somebody's face when he wore that T-shirt," Sleeth said.

Robert Tyler, an attorney for Chase, centered much of his argument on what he labeled as "viewpoint discrimination."

"It's a sad day if we find ourselves saying a passage out of the Bible is hate speech," Tyler told the judge.

The school, Tyler argued, took sides when it allowed the Gay Straight Alliance to promote a day dedicated to toleration of homosexuality, but suspended Chase for taking a stand at odds with the group.

Tyler argued that Chase was following the tenets of his religion by spreading the word of the Bible.

Tyler said his client's message was "not out of hate, but out of compassion and love for his classmates."

"There's all sorts of speech that can be deemed hurtful," Tyler said outside of court. "The mere fact that it may be offensive to others doesn't cause it to lose its protection."

U.S. District Judge John A. Houston raised a number of questions during the hearing, including whether the school's mandate to teach tolerance should be trumped simply because the quote comes from a religious source.

Chase sat in the back of the courtroom during the arguments, flanked by his father and his grandfather. The freckle-faced, hazel-eyed blond teenager in jeans and tennis shoes cupped his hands and leaned forward, listening intently to the arguments.

The boy's legal battle began after he was suspended for wearing a shirt that read "Be ashamed" and "Our school embraced what God has condemned" on the front. The back of the shirt read: "Homosexuality is shameful" and "Romans 1:27." Romans 1:27 is a reference to a Biblical passage in the New Testament that addresses homosexuality.

Chase wore a shirt bearing a similar saying -- the back was the same, the front said "I will not accept what God has condemned" -- the previous day, during a school-club sponsored "Day of Silence" to show tolerance for homosexuality. That shirt drew no comments from teachers or administrators, according to his lawsuit.

At the end of the Thursday's hearing, Houston said he'd rule "in due course."

Contact staff writer Teri Figueroa at (760) 740-3517 or tfigueroa@nctimes.com.