Minnesota School
Ordered To Recognize
Gay Club
by AP from the Web,
April 5, 2006
Minneapolis, Minnesota -- The
Osseo School District must give a student gay rights group at Maple Grove High
School the same privileges offered to other extracurricular clubs while a
lawsuit proceeds through the court system, a judge has ruled.
U.S. District Judge Joan Ericksen issued a preliminary injunction that orders
the district to put the student group called Straights and Gays for Equality
(SAGE) on equal footing as other groups.
Two students sued the school district in September, claiming that groups
including the Spirit Council, the Asian Culture Group and the Chess Club were
allowed to publicize meetings and events, but members of SAGE were consistently
denied such requests.
The lawsuit claimed a violation of the federal Equal Access Act, which holds
that public schools must extend the same privileges to all student-organized,
non-curricular clubs.
The plaintiffs are two female students who are seniors at the school.
Defendants include the current and past superintendents of the Osseo School
District, the school's principal and the district's school board members.
In her ruling Tuesday, Ericksen ordered the school to treat SAGE like any other
student group when it came to access for meetings, avenues for communication and
other rights, according to a news release from the American Civil Liberties
Union of Minnesota.
The judge issued the preliminary injunction to prevent "irreparable harm" from
befalling the group while the lawsuit runs it course, the news release said.
"Instead of denying SAGE equal access, the school should be encouraging them,
and this order is an important first step toward that happening," said Teresa
Nelson, legal counsel for ACLU of Minnesota.
Lisa Hunter Jensen, director of community relations for the school district,
said the district has seen the decision and was reviewing what its course of
action would be.
SAGE formed at the school during the 2002-2003 school year, the lawsuit said,
"to promote tolerance and respect for Maple Grove Senior High School students
and faculty through education and activities." While some incidents date
to the fall of 2003, SAGE members started to find their requests regularly
denied in the 2004-2005 school year, the suit said.
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