Lambda Legal Files
Lawsuit on Behalf of Lesbian Student
Who Left Holmdel High
School in New Jersey
Fearing for Her
Safety
Persistent antigay
harassment continued without school
taking effective
measures to stop it.
LambdaLegal.org from
the Web, September 8, 2005
Holmdel, NJ, September 7, 2005
-- At a press conference today, Lambda Legal announced a lawsuit filed with the
Superior Court of New Jersey in Monmouth County on behalf of a lesbian student
who was verbally and physically attacked for two and a half years in Holmdel
High School. While the abuse was brought to the school administration’s
attention time and again, no effective measures were taken by the school to end
it.
The plaintiff, Nancy Wadington, 18, attended Holmdel High School until the
middle of eleventh grade when she had to leave the school to protect her safety.
For nearly three years, other students had verbally harassed her, threw bottles
and other objects at her, pushed her down a flight of stairs, and stole and
destroyed her books and backpacks –- on one occasion urinating inside her
backpack. Though both Nancy and her mother approached the school’s
administration seeking assistance, they failed to stop the harassment.
“It is an atrocity that school officials would ignore laws in New Jersey which
are touted as being the most comprehensive nondiscrimination laws on the books,”
said Alphonso David, Staff Attorney at Lambda Legal and an attorney on the case.
“Holmdel High School failed horribly in its duty to protect Nancy Wadington and
there is no excuse for it. Hopefully this lawsuit serves as a further
wake-up call to schools that they cannot ignore antigay harassment and abuse.”
Based on the fears for her safety, Nancy stopped using the restrooms at school,
forcing herself to go to the bathroom only before and after school, despite
abdominal pain. She also stopped using the school’s locker rooms, wearing
her gym clothes to and from school. She further avoided the dangerous
hallways between classes and instead often walked outside the building, even in
the cold and rain, to find an entry door closest to her next class.
The lawsuit is based on the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination that prohibits
sexual orientation discrimination in all places of public accommodation
including schools. This case is a continuation of Lambda Legal’s work on
behalf of youth in school. In 1996, Lambda Legal won a landmark victory in
Nabozny vs. Podlesny, in which a Wisconsin student was the victim of
antigay harassment at school — the case set the precedent holding schools
accountable when they fail to protect their students from antigay harassment.
“For me, going to school was about being humiliated. It was not about
getting an education,” said plaintiff Nancy Wadington. “It was my school’s
responsibility to provide me with a safe learning environment, but instead they
effectively ignored the harassment I was experiencing and left me to defend
myself. I am not the only person to have unnecessarily been harassed
because of their sexual orientation and I am here to say that we cannot just be
silenced and swept under the rug.”
Last year Lambda Legal launched an ongoing public education campaign about the
rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students. That campaign,
called “Out, Safe and Respected,” features television and radio public service
announcements and a “tool kit” for use by students.
Lambda Legal is joined on the case by cooperating attorneys at Skadden, Arps,
Slate, Meagher and Flom, LLP. That team includes Robert Del Tufo, a former
Attorney General of New Jersey, who was in office when the New Jersey Law
Against Discrimination was amended in 1993 to prohibit discrimination based on
sexual orientation. Also joining the case from Skadden is David Springer,
who was lead trial counsel in Lambda Legal’s landmark 1996 victory in Nabozny
vs. Podlesny. Lambda Legal’s David Buckel and Skadden's Mary Ann Le
Fort are also assisting on the case.
###
Contacts: Jackie Yodashkin: 212-809-8585 ext. 229; cell: 917-620-4502
Lambda Legal is a national organization committed to achieving full recognition
of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and
those with HIV through impact litigation, education and public policy work.
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