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365Gay.com
Florida GSA Suit
Dismissed
From the Web, April
10, 2008
Okeechobee, Florida -- A
lengthy lawsuit by the ACLU against the Okeechobee school district over its
refusal to allow a Gay-Straight Alliance to meet on campus came to an end on
Thursday when a federal judge dismissed the case.
U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore said the case had become moot because the
student who originally was the subject of the suit had graduated.
The original president of the club, Yasmin Gonzalez, is now a college student.
After she graduated the GSA was without members.
Recently two students tried to revive the club and have their names added to the
suit, but Moore rejected the attempt.
The ACLU also tried to keep the case alive pointing out to Moore that Gonzalez
had sought monetary damages from the school district. Moore also rejected
that.
The issue could still return to court, if the new GSA member want to sue the
school.
The battle began in 2006 Gonzalez and her girlfriend were told they could not
attend the school prom as a couple.
The rejection was one of several incidents targeting LGBT students at Okeechobee
High School and led to the formation of the GSA.
The school blocked the club from meeting on campus and the students sought the
help of the ACLU which filed the federal suit.
The ACLU argued that the Equal Access Act stipulates that when a school allows
any non-curricular club to meet on campus, it must allow all non-curricular
clubs to meet on campus.
The school district said that the Equal Access Act can't be used in the case of
a GSA and that Florida law requires schools to teach abstinence, "while teaching
the benefits of monogamous marriage."
The case was to have gone to trial in June.
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