Students Win Battle To Form Gay Club
(Okeechobee, Fla.) A federal judge Wednesday ruled that Okeechobee High School must allow the establishment of a Gay-Straight Alliance, ending a legal battle that stretched across two years.Students do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate,” Judge K. Michael Moore said in his written ruling.
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.”
In his ruling Moore made legal history for a federal court, saying that schools must provide for the well-being of gay students to the same extent as straight students, and therefore, the school may not discriminate against the GSA.
The school violated the students’ First Amendment rights, the ruling said.
Judge Moore quoted the famed 1969 Tinker case stating that students do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.” Moore went on to state that “the desire of the GSA to meet as a group to discuss matters pertinent to the challenges presented by their non-heterosexual identity and to build understanding and trust with other heterosexual students sounds in the political speech addressed in Tinker.”
In referencing Tinker, Moore was referring to Gillman v. School Board for Holmes County, Fla., a first amendment case won by the ACLU in May. In a two-day trial, the high school principal testified that he believed clothing or stickers featuring rainbows would make students automatically picture gay people having sex.
In June, federal judge Richard Smoak ordered Ponce de Leon High School to pay $325,000 in legal fees to the ACLU after ruling that the school violated student Heather Gilman’s Constitutional right to free speech. Gillman and her friends were suspended from school after wearing clothes and stickers supporting their openly gay friends.
In his order Moore grants students in the Okeechobee GSA “all the rights and privileges granted to other noncurricular groups.”
“Judge Moore’s ruling that GSAs are beneficial to gay students and that they don’t harm straight students is unparalleled. This is a clear victory for the students, for the Okeechobee GSA and indeed for all high school students in Florida,” said Robert Rosenwald, director of the ACLU of Florida LGBT Advocacy Project.
“These are brave students who would not be silenced and did not tolerate discrimination. So many children cannot stand up for themselves, but hopefully this ruling will serve as warning to other Florida schools that equal access truly means equal access, and schools that choose not to follow the law will be inviting similar litigation,” he said.
The order will allow the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and straight students to meet on campus, just as other non-curricular clubs do, to discuss issues about bullying, tolerance and discrimination. GSAs across the state and country have been shown to help gay and straight students feel safer at school, and provide an open forum for students to discuss their fears, hopes and challenges.
“I can’t tell you how happy I am that the judge agreed we have a right to create a safe space for gay students at my school,” said Brittany Martin, a 17-year-old upcoming senior at OHS who is the GSA’s president. She added, “All we’ve ever wanted was to have a club to talk about tolerance and harassment so we can try to make our school a better place for all students.”
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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.”
In his ruling Moore made legal history for a federal court, saying that schools must provide for the well-being of gay students to the same extent as straight students, and therefore, the school may not discriminate against the GSA.
The school violated the students’ First Amendment rights, the ruling said.
Judge Moore quoted the famed 1969 Tinker case stating that students do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.” Moore went on to state that “the desire of the GSA to meet as a group to discuss matters pertinent to the challenges presented by their non-heterosexual identity and to build understanding and trust with other heterosexual students sounds in the political speech addressed in Tinker.”
In referencing Tinker, Moore was referring to Gillman v. School Board for Holmes County, Fla., a first amendment case won by the ACLU in May. In a two-day trial, the high school principal testified that he believed clothing or stickers featuring rainbows would make students automatically picture gay people having sex.
In June, federal judge Richard Smoak ordered Ponce de Leon High School to pay $325,000 in legal fees to the ACLU after ruling that the school violated student Heather Gilman’s Constitutional right to free speech. Gillman and her friends were suspended from school after wearing clothes and stickers supporting their openly gay friends.
In his order Moore grants students in the Okeechobee GSA “all the rights and privileges granted to other noncurricular groups.”
“Judge Moore’s ruling that GSAs are beneficial to gay students and that they don’t harm straight students is unparalleled. This is a clear victory for the students, for the Okeechobee GSA and indeed for all high school students in Florida,” said Robert Rosenwald, director of the ACLU of Florida LGBT Advocacy Project.
“These are brave students who would not be silenced and did not tolerate discrimination. So many children cannot stand up for themselves, but hopefully this ruling will serve as warning to other Florida schools that equal access truly means equal access, and schools that choose not to follow the law will be inviting similar litigation,” he said.
The order will allow the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and straight students to meet on campus, just as other non-curricular clubs do, to discuss issues about bullying, tolerance and discrimination. GSAs across the state and country have been shown to help gay and straight students feel safer at school, and provide an open forum for students to discuss their fears, hopes and challenges.
“I can’t tell you how happy I am that the judge agreed we have a right to create a safe space for gay students at my school,” said Brittany Martin, a 17-year-old upcoming senior at OHS who is the GSA’s president. She added, “All we’ve ever wanted was to have a club to talk about tolerance and harassment so we can try to make our school a better place for all students.”
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