Constitutional Law

Fla. Students Challenge High School's Denial of Gay-Straight Alliance Club

Two Florida high school students, with the help of the ACLU, are challenging their school board’s decision to bar the formation of a Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) on campus. The ACLU of Florida, representing Yulee High School students Hannah Page and Jacob Brock, sued the School Board of Nassau County in federal court arguing that the board’s decision to ban the student club from campus violates the First Amendment and the Equal Access Act, which prohibits public schools from discriminating against extracurricular student clubs. Robert Rosenwald, director of the ACLU of Florida’s LGBT Advocacy Project, said, “We are taking a stand today because gay students are entitled to a safe and secure education. Gay and lesbian students deserve schools that heed the rule of law.”

The ACLU of Florida stated in press release about the legal action that lesbian and gay students in Nassau County Schools are bullied and harassed and that both Page and Brock have been subject to such treatment at school. The ACLU added that, “GSAs are student organizations made up of straight and gay students who wish to advocate for an end to bullying, harassment, and discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (“LGBT”) students.”

In a letter denying access to the GSA, Superintendent John L. Ruis maintained that “a club highlighting sexual orientations will not be permitted as it would violate school board policy.” In the ACLU press release, Brock, a junior at Yulee High School, said that, “I hope that being part of this important lawsuit will open up people’s eyes so that they can see that there is still a lot of discrimination and we need to sit down and talk about it. The school is preventing us from talking about anti-gay bias, harassment, and violence and working together to promote tolerance, understanding and acceptance of one another, regardless of sexual orientation.” The Associated Press reported that the ACLU recently won a similar case in Okeechobee, Fla.

Full post as published by ACS Blog on February 11, 2009 (boomark / email).