Federal court overturns verdict in lesbian discrimination case

A federal appeals court has overturned a lower court verdict that found a school district had discriminated against two former school administrators because they are lesbians. The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver also set aside the $160,000 award the lower court had ordered the Sheridan County School District to pay Kathleen Milligan-Hitt and Kathryn Roberts. The 10th Circuit panel that heard the case said that when the women's contracts were not extended in 2003 there were no explicit protections for LGBT workers in the state. As a result the women could not claim they were victims of discrimination and therefore not entitled to monetary damages. The women's attorney, Greg Hacker called the appeals court ruling "unfortunate and unjust." A lawyer for the school district said the ruling affirmed the district's position that there wasn't any discrimination against the two. In 2003 Milligan-Hitt was a Sheridan junior high principal, and Roberts a Sheridan middle school principal. When the school district consolidated schools that year, the women and other administrators had to reapply for five administrative jobs. But Milligan-Hitt and Roberts were not rehired as administrators. Roberts was eventually given a position of physical education teacher, which she later resigned. In 2005, the women sued Sheridan County School District, charging the school district violated their rights of equal protection, freedom of association and privacy. The women alleged that they lost their jobs after parents complained that the women had been seen holding hands at a store in Billings, Montana. They denied the incident, but said district Superintendent Craig Dougherty confronted them angrily about it afterward. In August of 2006, the jury awarded Roberts $112,000 and Milligan-Hitt $48,000. The school district appealed to the 10th Circuit.