Gay-Straight Alliance of Okeechobee High Sch. v. Sch. Bd. of Okeechobee County, No. 06-14320-CIV (S.D. Fla. Apr. 6, 2007)
A federal district court in Florida has ordered a school board to extend official recognition and the same privileges as other non-curricular clubs enjoy to a Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) club. When Okeechobee High School (OHS) principal Toni Wiersma refused to grant recognition of the GSA and denied it access to OHS on an equal basis with other non-curricular clubs, the plaintiff students sued the Okeechobee County School Board under the federal Equal Access Act (EAA), seeking an injunctive order and nominal damages not to exceed $20. The school board agreed that the EAA was applicable because OHS is a public school receiving federal funds and has created a “limited open forum” by recognizing other non-curriculum related clubs.
The court rejected the school board’s arguments that its actions fell under one or more of the EEA’s “safe harbor” exceptions because they were meant to maintain “order and discipline on school premises” and to “protect the well-being of students.” The board argued the GSA is a “sex-based” club, citing in particular Caudillo v. Lubbock Independent School District, 311 F.Supp.2d 550 (N.D. Tex. 2004), which upheld school officials’ denial of formal recognition of a gay student club’s on the grounds that the club’s website included links to websites containing “obscene and explicit sexual” material and that the club’s stated goal of promoting safe sex was contrary to the school’s abstinence only policy. While the court agreed that school officials may restrict access to and expression of obscene and sexually explicit material, it found that the GSA here denied it was a “sex-based” club and instead asserted that the club’s purposes were “to provide a safe, supportive environment for students and promote tolerance and acceptance of one another, regardless of sexual orientation.” There was no reason to believe the GSA at OHS would not dedicated itself to its stated purposes, without resort to obscene or sexually explicit material, the court found. Moreover, unlike the club in Caudillo, the GSA at OHS had not stated its intention to contradict school district policy by promoting safe sex. The court dismissed the board’s contention based on Caudillo that school officials could deny recognition because the presence of a gay club would lead to harassment and injury, generating lawsuits. GSA’s official purposes are to foster tolerance and equality preventing harassment and injury, the court noted, concluding that the board’s fear of potential lawsuits was unsubstantiated and unpersuasive.
Gay-Straight Alliance of Okeechobee High Sch. v. Sch. Bd. of Okeechobee County, No. 06-14320-CIV (S.D. Fla. Apr. 6, 2007)
[Full opinion]
[Editor’s Note: A more detailed summary is provided at the first link below. Background on the case and information on other such disputes are available starting at the second link. Caudillo, summarized at the third link, is one of the rare cases in which a court has upheld a school’s denial of official recognition of a gay student club in the face of an EAA claim.]
[NSBA detailed summary of decision]
[NSBA School Law pages on filing of lawsuit]
[NSBA School Law pages on Caudillo v. Lubbock Indep. Sch. Dist.]