Education

Judge Backs Gay-Straight Alliance at Fla. High School

By Mark Walsh — March 12, 2009 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

A federal district judge has issued a preliminary injunction barring a Florida school district from refusing to recognize a gay-straight student alliance.

Administrators at Yulee High School in the Nassau County school district had argued that the club could be disruptive and that its message would violate Florida education policy encouraging sexual abstinence.

Court papers indicate the district also objected to the group’s proposed name: the Gay-Straight Alliance. Names such as the Tolerance Club might be more acceptable.

In the March 11 injunction, U.S. District Judge Henry Lee Adams Jr. of Jacksonville, Fla., indicated that he agreed with another federal district court in Florida, which ruled last year in favor of a gay-straight student group.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, which represented the gay-straight alliance, has this press release.

A version of this news article first appeared in The School Law Blog.