High School gay-straight alliance wins victory in GA

School officials and students from White County High School in Cleveland, GA have reached a settlement agreement in federal court this week that will end the district's struggle to ban a gay-straight alliance student club called PRIDE (Peers Rising In Diverse Education) from meeting at the school. Under the agreement the school also agreed to make it clear that harassment of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered students will not be permitted under the school's anti-bullying regulations. For the first time, the school will classify such bullying as sexual harassment. The school also agreed to provide annual training to teachers on how to deal with anti-gay harassment in the classroom. The court settlement also includes a $10,000 payment by the White County school district to be disseminated amongst the plaintiffs in the suit and orders the school district to pay $168,000 to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in attorneys' fees. "I'm just so happy this is all over and that our school is doing the right thing," said Charlene Hammersen, one of the founders of PRIDE. "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." The controversy over the club started in 2005 when a group of students asked school officials to let them start the extracurricular group in response to a pattern of harassment and bullying of gays and lesbians by other students. The school reluctantly allowed the club to form but shortly after announced plans to ban all extracurricular clubs. As part of the ban, PRIDE was not permitted to meet on campus, despite the fact that several other clubs including the schools shooting club, student council and a school dance team continued to be active. This led the students to seek legal help from the ACLU, in an effort to get recognition for the club. In response, the ACLU filed suit in federal district court in February 2006 seeking to gain recognition for the club. In July 2006, the court moved to grant an injunction in the case that forced the school to allow PRIDE to meet on campus until the case came before the court. According to the ACLU, the Equal Access Act guarantees the rights of students to form all kinds of clubs including gay-straight alliances like the one at White County High. "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." Federal courts have repeatedly ruled in favor of gay-straight alliances where schools tried to block their formation, upholding students' right to form the groups in Salt Lake City, UT; Orange County, CA; Franklin Township, IN; Boyd County, KY and Osseo, MN.