ACLU files suit on
behalf
of Bakersfield high
school students
By Laura Wides, AP
from signonsandiego.com from the Web, May 19, 2005
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Associated Press
"The Kernal
staff, along with the gay students we interviewed, we have lost our
voices," said the paper's editor and chief, Joel Paramo, who is one of the
plaintiffs in the case. |
LOS ANGELES –- A group of high school
journalists sued the Kern High School District on Thursday in an effort to keep
their principal from censoring student newspaper articles on homosexuality.
The suit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union in Kern County Superior
Court, requests an emergency order to allow the paper to publish the stories in
The Kernal's year-end May 27 issue. Students also want school
administrators to take steps to reduce homophobia and anti-gay attitudes.
"The Kernal staff, along with the gay students we interviewed, we have lost our
voices," said the paper's editor and chief, Joel Paramo, who is one of the
plaintiffs in the case. The Gay-Straight Alliance Network is another
plaintiff.
East Bakersfield High School Principal John Gibson said he blocked publication
because he was worried about violence on campus.
"It's not about gay and lesbians. It's about student safety," he said.
The articles include photos and interviews with gay students discussing their
sexual orientation.
"No incident in the past led us to believe that those students, who are already
open about their sexual orientation, had anything to worry about," Paramo told
reporters Thursday at the ACLU's Los Angeles office.
Bakersfield, located about 100 miles northwest of Los Angeles, is known as a
conservative community, but Paramo, 18, said students at East Bakersfield are
tolerant for the most part. He said the principal's decision "regrettably
sends the unmistakable message that school officials would rather students keep
closeted about their sexual orientation."
Student reporters obtained written permission from those they interviewed and
from the parents of those who were minors. Paramo said the newspaper staff
also agreed, under pressure, not to include photos or names of the gay students,
but that compromise was rejected.
On Thursday, ACLU officials said, the district agreed to allow publication if
the names and photos were withheld, but this time the students rejected the
offer.
Eighteen-year-old senior Janet Rangle, who was interviewed along with her mother
for the paper, is another of the plaintiffs. She said when she came out as
a lesbian, students were either supportive or didn't care.
Gibson's decision "made me feel like I was back where I was –- in the closet
again, hiding" she said.
ACLU attorney Christine Sun said the group is seeing a pattern of efforts by
school administrators to stifle speech about homosexuality. The
organization is litigating a similar case in Fullerton.
California's education code allows schools to censor student publications only
if articles are obscene, libelous or slanderous, or if an article "so incites
students as to create a clear and present danger ... or the substantial
disruption of the orderly operation of the school."
"It's our concern that with the publication of those articles, those students
might be in danger or that our campus might be subject to some kind of
violence," said district spokesman John Teves.
The student journalists said they were surprised by Gibson's decision because
the award-winning paper has had a good relationship with administrators in the
past. Earlier this year it published stories on teen rape and teen
virginity, said Maria Krauter, another plaintiff in the case and one of the
newspaper's editors.
Another student interviewed for the story, junior Rudy Cachu, 17, said he has
been taunted by some students about being gay but the harassment stopped after
he spoke with administrators.
"We were really excited because finally people were going to hear what we had to
say," he said of the stories.
"I think about the future generation of gay kids who are going to come to this
school, and I want them to know they can be who they are, and it's OK," Cachu
said.
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