Recent Court Rulings on Sexual Orientation

This from C-J:

...On Jan. 31, two court decisions and one lawsuit in three states made an already hot fight over sexual orientation in public schools even hotter.

In a Massachusetts case, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit by parents who wanted school officials to notify them whenever same-sex couples were mentioned in their children's elementary classrooms.

According to the court, exposure to gay marriage (e.g., reading to second-graders a story about two princes who fall in love) does not constitute "indoctrination" or a discussion of human sexuality, as the parents contended, but rather an age-appropriate acknowledgement of the existence of same-sex couples in a state where gay marriage is legal.

On the same day, a lower court in Maryland rejected a challenge by conservative groups to a new sex-education curriculum in Montgomery County that includes teaching "respect for differences in human sexuality."

Opponents charged that the curriculum promotes homosexuality. Proponents argued that the curriculum gives students information about sexual orientation in a way that is nonjudgmental and fair.

Meanwhile in the Florida Panhandle, the culture-war shoe is on the other foot: The American Civil Liberties Union filed suit, also on Jan. 31, against a high school that reportedly bans all student expression of support for gay rights, extending even to such things as rainbow stickers.

After this dizzying one-day legal whirlwind, school officials may be forgiven for being
more anxious than ever about how to handle issues related to sexual orientation without calling a lawyer. One thing is clear: As public acceptance of
differences in sexual and gender identity grows, pressure on schools to address
these issues will continue to rise....

And from the School Law Blog:

Schools May Restrict Anti-Gay Speech, Judge Rules

Public school officials may restrict speech disparaging homosexuality, a federal district judge has ruled.

The Feb. 12 decision is the latest in a long-running case stemming from an incident in which a California high school student wore a T-shirt with hand-lettered messages that said, “Homosexuality is shameful. Romans 1:21,” and “Be ashamed."

"In this court’s view, a school’s interest in protecting homosexual students from harassment is a legitimate pedagogical concern that allows a school to restrict speech expressing damaging statements about sexual orientation and limiting students to expressing their views in a positive manner," said the ruling by U.S. District Judge John A. Houston in Harper v. Poway Unified School District.

"There is no doubt in this court’s mind that the phrase “Homosexuality is shameful” is disparaging of, and emotionally and psychologically damaging to, homosexual students and students in the midst of developing their sexual orientation in a 9th through 12th grade, public school setting," the judge added....

...Judge Houston rejected free speech arguments made on behalf of the Harpers, and he said the Supreme Court's decision last year in Morse v. Frederick "affirms that school officials have a duty to protect students, as young as 14 and 15 years of age, from degrading acts or expressions that promote injury to the student’s physical, emotional or psychological well-being and development which, in turn, adversely impacts the school’s mission to educate them." ...