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 Yet Another Twist In Florida Gay Student Group
Suit
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: May 7, 2008 - 5:00 pm ET
(Okeechobee, Florida) A lawsuit against a
Florida school district that banned a gay student group from meeting on campus
should not be reinstated attorney's for the Okeechobee school district have told
a federal judge.
In March U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore
tossed out the case, ruling that the issue was moot since the original student
who filed the suit had graduated and the club had no additional members.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a motion
last month seeking to reopen the case after another student tried to revive the
club but also was told the Gay-Straight Alliance could not meet in school
facilities.
In a motion asking that the ACLU request be
denied school board lawyer David Gibbs said the revived club was not denied
access because it was gay, but rather because it was too late in the school year
for a new club to be formed.
Gibbs' motion notes that several other clubs were
also denied, including one that students wanted to set up to help cope with the
deaths of two Okeechobee students.
Judge Moore has not indicated when he would rule on either
motion.
The battle for recognition of the GSA began in
2006 when student Yasmin 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 argued at the time 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."
©365Gay.com 2008
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