Judge Rules for Florida GSA

The Thursday order affirms that a gay-straight alliance can continue to meet, at least through this school year.

Trudy Ring

Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.

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Trudy Ring

May 31 2013 4:26 PM EST

November 17 2015 5:28 AM EST

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A federal judge has upheld the right of a gay-straight alliance to meet at a middle school in Leesburg, Fla.

The judge's order, issued Thursday, upholds an agreement reached late last month that allowed the group to meet until the end of the school year, next week, the Orlando Sentinel reports.

Eighth-grader Bayli Silberstein had found her efforts to start the club blocked by her principal and school board members since January; at one point they considered banning all clubs instead of allowing it. The American Civil Liberties Union sued on her behalf, saying her First and Fourteenth Amendment rights were violated.

The day after the suit was filed, the ACLU and the Lake County school district worked out an agreement so the group could meet, but the judge's decision Thursday finalizes that and orders the school district to pay legal fees.

Silberstein expressed satisfaction with the ruling. "I can look forward to knowing that the students will continue to have a safe place," she told the Sentinel.

However, the story may not be over. The court order does not say if the club can continue meeting in the next academic year, and the school board "is in the midst of finalizing a broad new policy for middle-school clubs that allows only clubs that promote critical thinking, business, athletics and arts in middle schools," the Sentinel reports. "School district attorney Steve Johnson previously said the gay-straight club 'does not fit' that criteria."