School District with Sexual Orientation "Neutrality" Policy Targeted by Lawsuit and Investigation

The Anoka-Hennepin School District is the only district in Minnesota with a curriculum policy that requires teachers and staff to remain "neutral" on sexual orientation issues, deferring instead to students' "family homes, churches, and community organizations" to disseminate attitudes and information about homosexuality.

Two major civil rights organization, the National Center for Lesbian Rights and the Southern Poverty Law Center, have sued the district on behalf of LGBT student plaintiffs who experienced harassment and discrimination at Anoka-Hennepin schools. They argue that the neutrality policy amounts to gag-order that contributes to a hostile environment for LGBT students by rendering teachers ineffective at dealing with LGBT harassment when it occurs and at laying a foundation of inclusion and appreciation for diverse sexual orientations that could prevent harassment of LGBT students in the first place. They argue that the policy singles out LGBT students for exclusion in violation of the federal Constitution's Equal Protection Clause, Title IX, and the Minnesota Human Rights Statute.

Meanwhile, the Justice Department and the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights are investigating allegations that Anoka-Hennepin School District is responsible for bullying and harassment motivated by students' failure to conform to gender stereotypes in violation of Title IX. Four students have committed suicide in recent years in apparent reaction to such harassment, though reports suggest it is not clear whether suicides or the district's sexual orientation "neutrality" policy are part of the investigation.

How Anoka-Hennpin's policy fares in court and in this government investigation could affect other states with restrictions on teaching about homosexuality. Reportedly, these states include Alabama, Arizona, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas and Utah, while Tennessee considered such legislation earlier this year.

Settlement Follows OCR Investigation of Anti-Gay Bullying and Suicide

In January, we blogged that the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights had undertaken an unprecedented investigation by agreeing to look into charges that a school district failed to protect a middle-school student from anti-gay bullying that resulted in the student's suicide. Today OCR announced that the school district, Tehachapi Unified in California, has agreed to a settlement in response to OCR's finding that the school district was in violation of Title IX. Specifically, OCR determined that the student, Seth Walsh, was targeted for his "nonconformity with gender stereotypes, including his predominantly female friendships and stereotypically feminine mannerisms, speech and clothing." Additionally, the harassment was severe and pervasive, and that the school officials knew about it and did not adequately respond.

Under the terms of the settlement, the school district has agreed to a number of reforms, including revision of its harassment policies to address gender-based harassment, better training and education for its students, teachers, administrators, a survey assessment of the school climate regarding harassment, and responding to the climate through measures determined by consultation with an advisory committee, of administrators, students and parents.

These settlement terms are in my opinion are not so much punitive as simply "best practices" for prevention of bullying and harassment. Other school districts should not wait for a situation to escalate into a tragedy and government intervention before taking this list on themselves.

Dept of Ed Letter Supports Gay-Straight Alliances

Yesterday, the Department of Education circulated a "Dear Colleague" Letter to remind and apprise elementary and secondary schools of the government's position that schools must provide equal access and support to student clubs formed around shared interest in sexual orientation discrimination, namely, gay-straight alliances (GSAs). The Department's interpretation is not rooted in Title IX, however, whose prohibition on sex discrimination would seemingly not apply to viewpoint discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Rather, the Department rooted its interpretation in another law, the Equal Access Act. Congress passed this law in 1984 because it was concerned that schools were not allowing religion-based student groups meet on campus. But it applies to all student groups. As the letter explains,

The general rule, approved by the U.S. Supreme Court, is that a public high school that allows at least one noncurricular student group to meet on school grounds during noninstructional time (e.g., lunch, recess, or before or after school) may not deny similar access to other noncurricular student groups, regardless of the religious, political, philosophical, or other subject matters that the groups address.

Of course, a school wishing to deny access to a GSA may choose to have no extracurricular clubs at all, as a Utah school district once did. But the Department of Education's letter urges schools to consider the role of such clubs in fostering the kind of welcoming and supportive atmosphere that can be an antidote to the bullying crisis which has claimed several gay students' lives.

New Jersey Presses Anti-Gay Discrimination Charges Against School District

The federal Department of Education is not the only agency trying to hold schools accoutable for their role in bullying of students who are or perceived to be gay.

The New Jersey Office of Civil Rights has reportedly filed a complaint with the state's Department of Law and Public Safety against Ridgewood Public School District, alleging that it violated the state nondiscrimination law when it discriminated against then-high school student Matthew Zimmer. The district allegedly committed discrimination against Matthew when his health teacher outed him to his class, and when school officials painted over a "gay must die" graffiti without addressing the incident with the student body. The agency believes that the district's conduct created an environment that denied Matthew of his education by forcing him to withdraw from school.

Unlike Title IX, New Jersey law enumerates protection against discrimination based on sexual orientation. This gives the state agency wider latitude than its federal counterpart to consider acts of discrimination that are motivated solely by the student's orientation, rather than only those overlapping with the student's gender nonconformity. The article does not say whether Matthew was targeted for appearing or behaving in a nonmasculine manner, but if he was not, this may have been a harder case to pursue under Title IX. It's therefore a good illustration for why it is important for state laws to include sexual orientation in their antidiscrimination laws. As this map illustrates, most states do not have such comprehensive laws.

ESPN Magazine Profiles Homophobia and Recruiting

Props to ESPN The Magazine, for publishing an excellent profile on role of homophobia in recruiting for women's college basketball. Here's the first paragraph, which describes an example of the problem:

On every top recruit's college visit, there comes the moment of the final pitch, when the head-spinning hoopla finally gives way to the business of basketball, when the high school girl steps away from the rah-rah of all the games and the ego-stroking of all the VIP intros to sit down with the head coach. During one teen's big moment, a heart-to-heart with Iowa State's Bill Fennelly, the decorated coach of 23 years sang an insistent refrain. "He kept drilling that 'this would be a family,'" says the player, who asked not to be named. "'You should come here,' he said, 'because we're family-oriented.'"

The article goes on to unpack the references to family and reveal them for the veiled homophobia they contain. Though it presents quotes from defenders of the term -- like Fennelly himself, who defends his right to sell what he thinks his program has to offer, and UConn's Geno Auriemma -- the input from coaches, players, and scholars presents a far more persuasive case that recruits and their families interpret the family rhetoric to be "cloaking" something else. Specifically, it is a suggestion that here, unlike other programs, you don't have to worry about lesbians coaches and teammates. Backing this up, the Magazine presents the results of its own survey of current and recent players, 55% of whom said that sexual orientation was an "underlying topic of conversation" in recruiting talks.

The article also makes a persuasive case for why this is bad for the game. Unlike other forms of negative recruiting, like suggestions that an opponent coach is violating rules, or planning to leave the program -- the lesbian variety is unique to the women's game, and is operating as what Professor Heather Barber calls "subtle weapon against programs led by unmarried female coaches." It is a major factor in the disproportionately low number of head coaching jobs held by women. Homophobia not only deters some women from going into coaching in the first place, the threat of a lesbian stigma also keeps women isolated and prevents them from forging mentor relationships and networks that are necessary for advancement in the coaching profession. It is even rumored to be the reason why the biggest powerhouse teams in the game, Tennessee (coached by an unmarried woman, Pat Summit) and Connecticut (coached by a married man, the aforementioned Auriemma) don't play a head-t0-head game anymore (though the article did not present any evidence to substantiate the rumor, only that the rumor exists). More importantly, it is oppressive to student athletes, like Emily Nkosi (nee Niemann) who played for Baylor until she couldn't stand the closet any more. She left Waco because in her words, "my internalized homophobia made me believe that if people found out I was gay, they would kill me."

Ending on a hopeful note, the article echoes coaches and others calling for better education and enforcement of recruiting violations, and a campaign to raise the ethical bar from within the coaching profession. More optimistically, it suggests that the changing cultural attitudes about lesbians will eventually catch up to athletics and render the lesbian stigma meaningless there too. Veiled homophobic references will backfire when they are addressed to recruits who are looking for team atmosphere that is open and affirming of their or their teammates' lesbian orientation.

Coach Sues University of Minnesota to Challenge Anti-gay Discrimination

Last week, former University of Minnesota women's golf coach Katie Brenny reportedly filed suit against the university and officials, arguing that she was forced to resign by anti-gay hostility in the athletic department. Brenny charges that the university violates the state of Minnesota's Human Rights Law, which unlike Title IX, covers discrimination on the basis of sex and sexual orientation. Brenny alleges that though she was hired as associate head coach of the women's golf team, she was never permitted to carry out coaching duties, as she reassigned to administrative duties soon after arriving at the University, while the someone else took over the team. The University denies that it discriminated against Brenny, while Brenny argues that she is entitled to compensation for lost wages and the expense of finding another job, as well as humiliation, embarrassment, and distress.

OCR Investigates Anti-Gay Abuse that Lead to Suicide

The Office for Civil Rights will reportedly investigate claims that the Tehachapi Unified School District in California failed to protect a student from anti-gay bullying and harassment that resulted in the student's suicide in September. This appears to be the first investigation of its kind, coming on the heels of OCR's guidance letter to schools that delineates schools' responsibilities under Title IX to address sexual orientation discrimination that overlaps with sex discrimination, like where the student is targeted for failing to conform with stereotypes about sex and gender. The student whose suicide has prompted this investigation was thirteen-year-old Seth Walsh, who hanged himself from a tree in his backyard after fellow students at Jacobsen Middle School harassed him because he was openly gay, and because if his mannerisms and appearance. The investigation will determine whether school officials responded appropriately to bullying that they knew or should have known was going on.