HARASSED GAY STUDENT WINS SETTLEMENT….Here’s some good news. Remember Thomas McLaughlin, the Little Rock teenager who was harassed by his teachers and made to read Bible verses after they discovered he was gay? The ACLU sued the Pulaski County School District and yesterday they settled the case:
A teenager disciplined by his school district for talking about being gay will get $25,000, an apology from school officials and his disciplinary record cleared.
….A general condition of the settlement requires that the school district not disclose a student’s sexual orientation or punish a student for talking about his or her sexual orientation outside the classroom.
The ACLU hopes other schools will learn from the suit, said Rita Sklar, who directs the ACLU in Arkansas.
“Public schools aren’t above the Constitution,” she said, “and they can’t get away with silencing gay students and violating their rights.”
This was a pretty disgusting case and I’m glad that the school district finally came to its senses. It’s not quite up there with Lawrence v. Texas, but it’s still a step in the right direction.
