OK CAN WE STOP THE NONSENSE!!!!! In Jacksonville, Florida on tuesday, two high school students Hannah Page, a freshman, and Jacob Brock, a junior sued their high school for refusing a club that promotes the tolerance for gays. According to court documents the lawsuit claims "violations of the First Amendment and the Federal Equal Access Act. The act requires schools to grant access and recognition to a Gay-Straight Alliance and other groups if the school allows any extracurricular group to meet on campus"said ACLU attorney Robert F. Rosenwald. The purpose of the lawsuit seeks a preliminary injunction to allow the club to meet at Yulee High while the case makes it way to trial.Page said the group just wants to meet like others do.
“We just want the club so that straight and gay kids can get together to talk about harassment and discrimination against gay kids in an open environment. The school is discriminating against us and that’s exactly the kind of thing we want to prevent,” she said. John L. Ruis, the school district’s superintendent, said in a letter to Rosenwald that “a club highlighting sexual orientations will not be permitted as it would violate school board policy.” The Nassau County School Board was served with the lawsuit.
The ACLU recently won a similar case in Okeechobee. A judge there ruled schools must provide for the well-being of gay students and cannot discriminate against the Gay-Straight Alliance.
Rosenwald said the Okeechobee County School Board paid $326,000 in attorneys fees in the case.
Gay and Straight alliance have been forming all across the nation. Some have been very successful in curtailing the violence against our gay/lesbian friends. As a past member myself of a GSA in my highschool, i felf a sense of ownership in championing a cause for equal rights for all my fellow peers. Gay and Lesbian students need their straight allies to bridge the rampant homophobia in our schools.
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ReplyDeleteThat's really absurd and also unfortunate that they have to sue for the right to form a club. I hope the ACLU can help them win their case and continue their success in being able to branch out to other gay and lesbian members in their community. It really would be beneficially for them to know they are not alone and reach out to others.
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