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Gay suit settled for name calling
Six homosexual students won a $1.1 million settlement yesterday against a California school district accused of failing to provide protection from physical and verbal abuse.
Name calling in school? Wow I have some suits to file!
The American Civil Liberties Union, which represented the students, said the settlement includes "a comprehensive training program for administrators, staff and students to combat anti-gay harassment," reported the Morgan Hill Times in the San Jose, Calif., suburb of Morgan Hill. The ACLU said the sensitivity training program – required for all district administrators, teachers, campus monitors, custodians, school safety officers and bus drivers – should become a national model for "schools everywhere that care about protecting their students from harassment." The program will emphasize issues surrounding "sexual orientation and gender identity." Students will participate in an age-appropriate program on the same issues.
Basically it’s a ‘be nice to turd burglars/carpet munchers or else’ seminar.
The settlement came after the federal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, regarded as the nation’s most liberal, ruled the Morgan Hill School District and others must give equal protection to all students. The case, which began in 1998, was appealed several times by the school district but never went to trial, and the two sides finally decided to pursue a settlement. "The bravery of these students in speaking out about the horrific abuse they faced on a daily basis at school will reach far beyond Morgan Hill," said Kate Kendell, executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, according to the Morgan Hill paper. "Because these six kids came forward, schools now know they can’t just ignore abuse of gay students when it’s happening in their hallways," Kendell said. "This training program isn’t just the right thing to do – it’s what schools have to do if they want to keep their students safe."
And then she picked up her $200k check from the district.
"This is not an admission of guilt," Thomas said, according to the Times. In a statement, school officials said: "Although the district believes it has no liability in the matter, it has agreed to this settlement agreement to avoid the costs and uncertainties of trial in order that the district can remain focused on its primary goal of educating students."
That makes me feel so... tired.
The students charged school administrators mostly ignored their complaints of taunting and abuse. Diane Ritchie, the attorney who filed the students’ original lawsuit, said last April the suit was not about money but about protecting the students and changing the district’s ways, the Times reported.
But she will cash her $200k Check just the same.
"All of them wanted to file to get protection on campus; they wanted the policy to change," Ritchie said then, according to the paper.
And get some money to buy some really nice gay clothes.
Three plaintiffs who agreed to reveal their names publicly were former students Alana Flores, Freddie Fuentes and Jeanette Dousharm. Flores will receive $150,000; Fuentes and Dousharm, $100,000 each; two unnamed plaintiffs $80,000 each and the final student, $50,000, the Morgan Hill paper said. About $600,000 will go to the lawyers.
That sounds fair.
"I am so happy that the district has finally recognized the seriousness of this problem and is ready to do something to stop it," said Flores about the settlement in a press release. "The kind of abuse I had to deal with every day when I went to school was horrible. No student should have to face that. Making schools safe for all students through this kind of training is something every school should do." Along with the ACLU of Northern California, the students were represented by the National Center for Lesbian Rights, the ACLU’s national Lesbian and Gay Rights Project, and a number of Bay Area attorneys.
Show of hands of anybody who was teased or taunted in school? Everybody! The ACLU has a lot of work to do. I had red hair, a weight problem, and I was harassed CONSTANTLY. I don’t see any red haired fat boys alliance to defend me! Also my school never held red hair fat boy sensitivity training for the faculty to protect my rights. Is there time limit on the charges? Is there a lawyers out there that wouldn’t mind working pro-bono?

On the one hand, I have the impulse to holler "Peshawar" at this article.

On the other, I guess it's good that we keep a record of the silliness that's going on in the country while the grown-ups are fighting wars, negotiating with beturbanned dictators, and generally trying to stem the tide of international Islamism. I regard the problems afflicting the plaintiffs as more substantial than the story of Britney's marriage and immediate divorce, though marginally so, on about the same plane, in fact, as Britney's tongue trade with Madonna. I actually find myself embarrassed at the thought that 30 or 40 years from now our grandchildren will be reading the history of the WoT and they're going to notice the venality and lack of substance of a large part of our society.

I'm comforted by the fact that this article immediately follows the one on Rumsfeld and the Men of the Year.

Posted by: Cyber Sarge (VRWC CA Chapter) 2004-01-07
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=23941