ACLU Urges School to Reinstate Student
By AP from the NYTimes on the Web, March 8, 2005
FULLERTON, CA -- The American Civil Liberties Union urged a school district to reinstate a high school newspaper editor who was fired for publishing an article about three gay students.
School officials were wrong to remove student Ann Long from her shared post as editor in chief of Troy High School's newspaper in January, the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California said in a letter to the local superintendent.
Long's Dec. 17 article in the Oracle chronicled the decisions of three students -- two 18-year-olds and a 15-year-old -- to reveal their homosexuality and bisexuality to family and friends.
All three spoke to Long knowing their names would be used.
A message left Monday with the Fullerton Joint Union High School District was not returned.
School officials argued previously that Long needed parental permission before publishing the students' stories.
However, the state attorney general has maintained that no such permission was
needed, the ACLU said.
"I got the approval of my journalism adviser, I checked my facts, and all the students agreed to tell their stories in this
article," Long said in a statement. "I thought this was an important issue, and so did my sources, to discuss in the school newspaper because it promotes tolerance and
understanding."
(Emphasis Added.)
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