ACLU Supports High School Gay Tolerance Club

Courts Say Gay Rights Club Can Continue to Meet

In September, 2006 at Okeechobee High School (OHS), students attempted to form a Gay-Straight Alliance and were blocked by the school district from holding meetings on campus.

This week, they won a small victory in the form of an injunction to allow the club to continue to meet while the lawsuit the ACLU filed on the club's behalf is waiting to be heard.

Yasmin Gonzalez sought to form the Gay-Straight Alliance at OHS, located in Okeechobee, Florida, to rally students when told she and her girlfriend could not attend the school prom as a couple. After attempting to form the Gay-Straight Alliance on campus, to promote gay tolerance and support gay rights, when the school district banned the group from meeting on campus, the group sought the support of the ACLU and filed a lawsuit against the district and the school's principal.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the students who had formed the Gay-Straight Alliance club at OHS by the ACLU, and originally included the school district and the school's principal. In February, the ACLU agreed to drop the principal as a defendant in the case.

The courts granted a temporary injunction that allowed the group to proceed with the lawsuit and continue to meet until such time as the lawsuit could be settled. In a 12-page ruling, US District Court Judge K. Michael Moore agreed with the ACLU and the Gay-Straight Alliance students that the district violated the Equal Access Act by banning the club from meeting on campus.

The Okeechobee School District argued that the Gay-Straight Alliance was a 'sex-based' club and therefore was excluded from meeting on the campus based on that determination, even though they had followed all other protocol for forming the club. In addition, the district determined that the club would be in violation of their 'abstinence only' policy.