City, conservative
group settle lawsuit
over gay-themed
school
From Newsday.com from
the Web, July 5, 2006
NEW YORK -- The city and a
conservative legal group have a settled a lawsuit in which the city was accused
of violating laws against segregation by establishing a public high school for
gay, bisexual and transgender students.
The city and a group calling itself the Liberty Counsel reached the settlement a
week ago, agreeing that the Harvey Milk High School was open to students of any
sexual orientation, said Kate O'Brien Ahlers of the city's Law Department.
"The city is pleased that the litigation involving Harvey Milk High School has
been resolved," city lawyer Emily Sweet said in a statement released by Ahlers.
"Harvey Milk High School has always been open to all students and the terms of
the stipulation are designed to ensure that all Department of Education staff
and students are aware of the nondiscrimination policy," the statement said.
The Liberty Counsel and Democratic State Sen. Ruben Diaz of the Bronx filed the
lawsuit in August 2003 after the city announced a month earlier that the high
school would be a publicly funded school for "gay, lesbian, bisexual, or
questioning" youth.
The Liberty Counsel's lawsuit challenged the legality of funding a "gay" high
school with tax dollars. In a lawsuit filed in Manhattan's state Supreme
Court, the group said keeping heterosexual students out of the school would
violate laws that bar discrimination based on sexual orientation.
The school was an expansion of a two-room program that began in 1984 and
formerly had been managed and financed by the Hetrick-Martin Institute, a
gay-rights youth advocacy group.
The Liberty Counsel released a statement Wednesday saying that the settlement
requires school officials to acknowledge in materials that they cannot
discriminate against straight students and to make sure staffers follow
nondiscrimination rules.
Neither Diaz nor a spokesman for Liberty Counsel could be reached for comment.
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