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Loading ...Judge: Gay student club can’t be banned
03.12.2009 8:12am EDT
(Jacksonville, Florida) A federal judge has ruled that a student club that promotes tolerance for gays at a north Florida high school must be allowed to meet.
U.S. District Judge Henry Adams issued the decision Wednesday in a case involving two students from Yullee High School near Jacksonville.Adams ordered a local school board to grant official recognition to the Gay-Straight Alliance and afford it the same privileges as any other student organization.
The school district had argued in court that it would grant school access to the group if its name were changed, citing the name as its chief objection. But the judge ruled that the group did not need to make a change.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed suit on behalf of two gay students.
I remember being a little girl 6yrs old, going to a gay church with my gay mom. I loved this church they spoke of in all forgiving loving God. I told Mom I was gay when I was 13 there are 5 kids 2 of us are gay and we all love each other.. I remember a girl telling everyone on the bus I was gay I got kicked off the bus and had to walk home, I fought to play football I marched in gay rights parades and you are telling me they still won’t leave our kids alone! I am a mother of 2, enough is enough it is time we show them we have rights our children have rights!
>I am completely gobsmacked. (Hello my British friends.) That is just not done around here. There is going to be a huge backlash in the area.
This is really in line with other Florida and national cases. As another comment states, the courts have been coming down pretty consistently on our side. The only recourse they have is to do away with all of the extra-curricular activities, and that doesn’t work for long periods of time (parents are too hungry to pad their little darlings’ resumes for college applications).
Gobsmacked…a little of Gaelic in there, “gob” Gaelic for beak
Dermot,
I believe that one day these alliances will (with the help of lawsuits if need be)will one be the norm for everywhere in the USA in a few years.
antigay apartheid in the USA is gradually get some more new cracks in it here and there.
this apartheid will shatter in more chunks as more and more GLBTs and their fair-minded straight allies all over USA challenge the nonsense of inequality.
I hope gay-straight alliances are legalized all over the country. They are currently banned here by the powers-that-be. Ironically, the statistics showed that most gay-straight alliance members tended to be straight people who had gay friends or gay loved ones.
How many years and places does this exact same scenario need to repeat itself? A group of students wants to form a gay/straight alliance, the powers that be shoot them down, the students go to court and the judges say if there are ANY school clubs at all then the gay/straight alliance MUST be allowed to form.
My Goodness – if there has been a gay/straight alliance at MY school back in the ’80’s I’d have been involved with it (as well as the Theater Guild and the literary arts magazine) and it would have made my time in high school that much better.
Are these really adults running these schools or teenagers who never grew up? These school boards & principles who bash gay students act like frightened children. It is good there are a few laws in place that support queer youth.
Excellent news! Keep up the fight for fairness.
YAY! Finally, a beacon of hope.
http://stuffqueerpeopleneedtoknow.wordpress.com/
Finally, thanks to a judge, the GSA is free to be who they are. I live in Jacksonville, Florida, and am so sick of the Southern Bible belt’s firm tight hold on the gay community. Thank you…GOD, Jesus,Budha or whomever for allowing some civility to our communties.
FRankly, how many times will federal judges have to make the same ruling before school districts just do what the law says. I think every school that fights the formation of a GSA from now on should pay for the legal bills of the students trying to form it.
Now comes the really fun part. How much is that school board going to have to pay the ACLU for going to court. All you hear from the school districts nowadays is budget cuts (unfortunatly). How many of those wonderful teachers are now going to get laid off because of that school board’s closed mindedness. I am glad that the students won and I hoped tat the teachers don’t fall prey to the backlash.
Finally common sense prevailed for this Gay-Straight Alliance. About sex, no. About basic fairness and tolerance for all, yes.
I am completely gobsmacked. (Hello my British friends.) That is just not done around here. There is going to be a huge backlash in the area. I am so glad that somebody stood up for those kids even if the sucky groups of GLAAD, HRC and LAMBDA. Once again, the gay civil rights organizations have proven they only care about MA, CA, and NY and the Family Guy.