Judge: Gay-Straight Alliance

discrimination lawsuit can continue

 

By AP from Brandenton.com on the Web, March 18, 2007

A Gay-Straight Alliance at Okeechobee High School can continue its lawsuit against the county school board over alleged discrimination, a judge has ruled.

The school board of Okeechobee County had sought to get the lawsuit by the club dismissed, but U.S. District Court Judge K. Michael Moore ruled March 13 that the lawsuit could go forward.

The lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union in federal district court in Miami in November.  ACLU lawyer Robert Rosenwald, who represents the Gay-Straight Alliance and the club's president, Yasmin Gonzalez, called the ruling "a major victory."

David Gibbs, the lawyer for the school board, disagreed.

"Neither side should claim this as a victory.  It's really the court streamlining the lawsuit," he said.

Gibbs said the case was not about gay rights but about allowing discussion of sex at a high school.  The alliance is a "sex-based club," he said.

The lawsuit alleges school officials refuse to recognize the club -- even though other extracurricular clubs meet regularly on school grounds.  It states that the students have been banned from holding meetings on school grounds.

Students had asked that the club be allowed to meet on school grounds while the lawsuit goes through the courts.  Moore said he would rule on that "in due course."

According to the federal Equal Access Act, schools that allow any extracurricular activities to meet on campus must allow all groups to do the same.

The original lawsuit had been brought against the school board and Okeechobee High School principal Toni Wiersma.  Lawyers for the Gay-Straight Alliance agreed to withdraw the claims against Wiersma in a hearing on Feb. 28.

Rosenwald said the ACLU and the students are willing to drop the lawsuit if the club is allowed to meet at the school.

(Emphasis Added)

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