Constitutional Law

Court Upholds Equal Access For Minn. Student Gay Rights Club

A Minnesota high school must provide a student-organized gay rights club the same access to school resources as other student groups, a federal appeals court has ruled. Since 2005, students of a group called Straights and Gays for Equality (SAGE) have fought school district officials for equal status. The group, formed at the Maple Grove High School, has sought use of the school’s PA system, bulletin boards and the ability to meet during school hours like other school-recognized student groups.

In 2007, a U.S. District Judge said the school officials had violated the Equal Access Act by denying SAGE the same benefits as they provided other student-run groups. The Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the federal district judge’s ruling late last week. The appeals court in SAGE v. Osseo Area Schools concluded that the school district “does not prohibit SAGE from meeting at the school or utilizing some avenues of communication, but it limits SAGE’s access to communication avenues and meeting times and places. Curricular groups receive more extensive use of school communication avenues.” Therefore, the appeals court held the issue was not whether school officials were providing SAGE “some” access to school communication resources, “but whether it provides equal access to available avenues of communication as provided to other noncurriculum related groups. We hold that it does not.”

The Star Tribune, a Minneapolis-St.Paul daily, reported that Osseo Area school district officials have not decided whether to appeal the Eight Circuit’s ruling.


 

Full post as published by ACS Blog on September 02, 2008 (boomark / email).