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365Gay.com
Federal Court
Overturns Verdict
In Lesbian
Discrimination Case
by 365Gay.com from
the Web, April 27, 2008
Cheyenne, Wyoming April 25 --
A federal appeals court has overturned a lower court verdict that found a school
district had discriminated against two former school administrators because they
are lesbians.
The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver also set aside $160,000 award the
lower court had ordered the Sheridan County School District to pay Kathleen
Milligan-Hitt and Kathryn Roberts.
The 10th Circuit panel that heard the case said that when the women's contracts
were not extended in 2003 there were no explicit protections for LGBT workers in
the state.
As a result the women could not claim they were victims of discrimination and
therefore not entitled to monetary damages.
The women's attorney, Greg Hacker called the appeals court ruling "unfortunate
and unjust."
A lawyer for the school district said the ruling affirmed the district's
position that there wasn't any discrimination against the two.
In 2003 Milligan-Hitt was a Sheridan junior high principal, and Roberts a
Sheridan middle school principal.
When the school district consolidated schools that year, the women and other
administrators had to reapply for five administrative jobs.
But Milligan-Hitt and Roberts were not rehired as administrators. Roberts
was eventually given a position of physical education teacher, which she later
resigned.
In 2005, the women sued Sheridan County School District, charging the school
district violated their rights of equal protection, freedom of association and
privacy.
The women alleged that they lost their jobs after parents complained that the
women had been seen holding hands at a store in Billings, Montana. They
denied the incident, but said district Superintendent Craig Dougherty confronted
them angrily about it afterward.
In August of 2006, after about 5 1/2 hours of deliberation Friday, the jury
awarded Roberts $112,000 and Milligan-Hitt $48,000. The school district
appealed to the 10th Circuit.
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