A settlement has
been reached between the American Civil Liberties
Union--representing students in a gay-straight alliance--and
officials in White County, Ga., who had refused to
permit the club to meet at White County High
School, the ACLU announced Wednesday.
Local media
reported December 26 that a settlement had been tentatively
reached, but Wednesday's announcement makes it official.
"I'm just so happy this is all over and that
our school is doing the right thing," Charlene
Hammersen, one of the founders of the alliance, called
Peers Rising in Diverse Education (PRIDE), told the ACLU.
"It's taken almost two years to get
here, but we're as determined as we've
always been to promote diversity and fight harassment
against gay students at our school. This is really
great for every student that goes to White County
High."
The school has
agreed to implement a no-tolerance policy for harassment
of LGBT students in grades 9 through 12 and provide the
faculty yearly training on discouraging antigay
bullying.
"This is a
tremendous victory for everyone involved in the case and for
all students at White County High School," said James
Esseks, litigation director of the ACLU Lesbian Gay
Bisexual Transgender Project. "We're
pleased that we helped to ensure that all students can
participate in extracurricular clubs, including the
PRIDE club, and that the school has agreed to changes
that we believe will make its hallways safer for all of
its students."
In February 2006
the ACLU sued the White County school district after the
high school disbanded noncurricular clubs just after
the formation of the gay-straight alliance. The
ACLU's case centered on the federal Equal
Access Act, which requires schools to provide equal
treatment to all noncurricular clubs, and other civil
rights statutes. Five months later a federal judge
ordered the school to allow the alliance and other
school clubs to meet.
"Throughout the course of this lawsuit I've
only wanted what every parent wants--for my
children to be able to go to school in an environment
that's safe," Savannah Pacer said to the
ACLU. Pacer's daughter Kerry was the founding
president of PRIDE before graduating; her other daughter,
Lindsay, is a member. Kerry was The Advocate's
Person of the Year for 2005. "I'm so proud of
my daughters for their role in changing hearts and
minds and for helping bring about this settlement,
which is a good thing for the whole school community.
This is a happy day for all of us."
Esseks agreed:
"The Equal Access Act guarantees the rights of
students to form all kinds of clubs--from GSAs
to religious clubs--and students at White County
High School now know they can exercise that right."
Similar legal
battles brought by GSAs have been won in Salt Lake City;
Orange County, Calif.; Franklin Township, Ind.; Boyd County,
Ky.; and Osseo, Minn. (The Advocate)
