Friday, December 20, 2013
School district rejects proposal for gay-straight club, faces another lawsuit
The ACLU has filed a lawsuit on behalf of a seventh-grader who has been denied permission to start a gay-straight club at her middle school. The school district claimed the club didn't "promote critical thinking, business skills, athletic skills, and performing/visual arts," as required by its rules. The article begins:
The Lake County [Florida] School Board for the second time this year is facing a federal lawsuit accusing it of violating students' freedom of speech and federal rights by not allowing a middle-schooler to start a gay-straight club at her school.
The American Civil Liberties Union Thursday filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of a 12-year-old girl at Carver Middle School in Leesburg who applied this semester to start a Gay-Straight Alliance club but was denied by school district officials.
The ACLU says seventh-grader Hannah Faughnan filed an application to start the club in October but was denied by the district's administration chief, according to the federal complaint.
According to the ACLU, the club would fight against bullying, discrimination and harassment of students including those who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender.
District administration chief Aurelia Cole, however, left a handwritten note on Hannah's application saying that the club "is not an extension of the school curriculum, per policy. Not approved."
https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/civil_rights/2013/12/school-district-rejects-proposal-for-gay-straight-club-faces-another-lawsuit.html