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Hephaestion
Deeply Shallow
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
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Location: Where the Wild Things Are...
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 Posted: Wed Feb 28, 2007 3:58 am Post subject: |
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The knuckle-draggers in Utah aren't giving up; they finally got their bigoted bill through the State House
| Quote: | Legislation allowing schools the right to reject student clubs that threaten the "moral well-being" of students that less than a week ago was declared dead has been resurrected and passed by the Utah House.
The bill, already passed by the Senate, now goes to the desk of Gov. Jon Huntsman. The Republican governor has not said if he will sign or veto the measure.
[...]
Over the weekend supporters of bill mustered enough support to have the bill reconsidered. Monday the House voted 48-23 to approve the legislation and send it to Huntsman.
The bill was opposed by state Board of Education. A position paper by the board said the legislation was not needed. But Republicans and socially conservative groups pushed to have it passed. |
A position paper by the board said the legislation was not needed.... Is irrational hatred ever "needed"?
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Hephaestion
Deeply Shallow
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| Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2007 11:30 am Post subject: |
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Gay students create safe haven at school
| Quote: | (East Greenbush) -- When high school student Helena Echandy came out as a lesbian, she mostly spent time with her closest friends, cautious about dealing with the public at large.
Now the 19-year-old senior at Columbia High School is a gay-rights activist and a member of her school's new Gay-Straight Alliance.
After months of existing as an unsanctioned club, the GSA received approval from the East Greenbush school district's Board of Education this year. The group was founded by 18-year-old senior Brittany Shoup, who got the idea when she began dating a girl who was the president of Troy High School's GSA.
[....]
High school principal John Sawchuk said the GSA was the next logical step for improving tolerance within the school. "It was formed under the concept of building tolerance and understanding, and I think it does that," he said. |
What a remarkable *lack* of drama! How refreshing! I was actually tempted to put this one in the thread, "The way things ought to be"...
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Hephaestion
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| Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2007 8:41 pm Post subject: |
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Utah governor is "conflicted" over bill
| Quote: | Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. is delaying a decision on whether to sign or veto a bill that gives schools the right to reject student clubs that threaten the "moral well-being" of students.
Critics of the measure say the legislation could be used to block the formation of Gay-Straight Alliances, although the bill carefully avoids mentioning any specific group - an attempt to prevent a constitutional challenge.
Huntsman was to have announced his decision on Thursday but following a meeting with the bill's two sponsors - Sen. Chris Buttars and Rep. Aaron Tilton, both Republicans - turned it over to his legal advisors.
Following the meeting both senators said they believed the governor would sign the bill.
[...]
LGBT rights groups and the American Civil Liberties Union of Utah have urged the governor to veto the bill.
Earlier this week the state Board of Education voted unanimously to call for a veto, but on Thursday some members said they were having second thoughts.
[...]
Huntsman has until March 20 to either sign or veto the bill. |
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Hephaestion
Deeply Shallow
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| Posted: Sat Mar 10, 2007 12:24 pm Post subject: |
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Turns out that Huntsman wasn't all THAT "conflicted"
| Quote: | Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. signed a bill Friday that would require parental consent for students to join non-curricular clubs such as gay-straight alliances and allow schools to deny a club application if leaders thought it necessary to "protect the physical, emotional and moral well-being of students."
[...]
"There were prior versions of the bill that he would have vetoed. However, this legislation simply codifies items already in state board rules," said Mike Mower, the governor's spokesman. "It also makes clear that it is not targeting any one club or organization.
"The seventh substitute HB236 ensures parents will have the right to approve of any school club or organization their child participates in," Mower said.
[...]
Margaret Plane, legal counsel for ACLU of Utah, said she was disappointed with Huntsman's decision. "The language, it's ambiguous enough that some schools may view it as permission to ban clubs they or their community find to be controversial. Under the Equal Access Act, that's not permissible," she said. "(If a district does that) the state will be responsible for defending a lawsuit for which potentially they shouldn't have had to."
[...]
Opponents, including the state Board of Education, called the bill unnecessary since school districts had their own policies regarding non-curricular clubs. And some said the Legislature was micromanaging districts.
But Tilton said the law will highlight parental rights. "We now have a statement -- not just in policy but in statute -- saying parents' rights are paramount." |
I hope there is a *flurry* of lawsuits, that ends up costing the state millions.
Oh, and by the way -- how long do you figure it will be before Tilton is unmasked as a child molester, or a dog-fucker, or something similar? That sort of thing seems to be all the rage in Republican circles, lately.
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Hephaestion
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| Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2007 8:52 pm Post subject: |
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After a couple of years, and a court case with support from the ACLU, the kids finally win in Madera.
Yay 
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Hephaestion
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| Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2007 10:24 am Post subject: |
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Florida judge rejects bid to derail gay student lawsuit
| Quote: | (Okeechobee) A federal judge has rejected a motion by the Okeechobee County school board to dismiss a lawsuit by high school students who were prevented from organizing a Gay-Straight Alliance on campus.
U.S. District Court Judge K. Michael Moore's ruling means that the lawsuit can go forward.
[...]
David Gibbs, the lawyer for the school board, said that the case is not about gay rights but about allowing discussion of sex at a high school. According to Gibbs the GSA is a "sex-based club."
Gibbs said that the Equal Access Act can't be used in the case of a GSA and furthermore Florida law requires schools to teach abstinence, "while teaching the benefits of monogamous heterosexual marriage." |
Funny how every single court case so far has repudiated the repeated contention by bigots that "the Equal Access Act can't be used in the case of a GSA" -- it most certainly can, it has, and I have no doubts that it will once again in this case. And if Gibbs is really so concerned about "discussion of sex at a high school", then he'd better go after all that flagrant discussing of abstinence and "teaching the benefits of monogamous heterosexual marriage".
Of course, it's all bullshit, and the Okeechobee County school board will lose its case, after pointlessly wasting all kinds of money trying to justify its bigotry. The kids will get their GSA, the bigots will whine about "activist judges", and the ACLU will once again be under-appreciated as thousands of homos flock to give their money to useless Democratic shills like HRC.
You heard it here first! 
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Hephaestion
Deeply Shallow
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| Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2007 12:12 pm Post subject: |
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'Alienation' is relevant, remarkable
| Quote: | | Probably the most remarkable part of of Tobin Atkinson's great play, "The Alienation Effekt," is that it was written 10 years ago. If you didn't know better, you'd swear it was written yesterday. "The Alienation Effekt" is as relevant today as it was a decade ago during the height of the debate over allowing gay clubs in public schools. Fast forward to 2007, and the issue of gay clubs once again stirred heavy debate at Utah's Capitol. (Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. signed a bill earlier this month that gives schools the authority to reject a club application in order to "protect the physical, emotional and moral well-being of students" and would require parental permission for a student to join extracurricular clubs) |
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JO21389
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Joined: 29 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2007 9:05 pm Post subject: |
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| thanks for all the support -yasmin |
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Hephaestion
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| Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2007 11:36 pm Post subject: |
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Actually, if you are who I think you are, Yasmin -- the founder of the Okeechobee GSA -- thank you. It's young people like you who are going to make things better for society as a whole.
Good luck, and good on ya! 
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JO21389
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| Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 1:05 am Post subject: |
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| it hasn't been getting any easier here. But I know it'll be worth it. We have a meeting tomorrow...off campus...lol |
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Hephaestion
Deeply Shallow
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| Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 8:10 pm Post subject: |
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Hang in there, my friend. (I shall be sending you an e-mail once I get a few minutes to turn around twice.)
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"The dignity of an animal is measured by his capacity to revolt in the face of oppression." -- Mikhail Bakunin |
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Tehanu
More or less, more or less
Joined: 12 Apr 2006
Posts: 16607
Location: Toronto
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| Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 8:22 pm Post subject: |
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| JO21389 wrote: | | it hasn't been getting any easier here. But I know it'll be worth it. We have a meeting tomorrow...off campus...lol |
Hi and welcome Yasmin! You're doing fantastic work and I wish you all the best ... warm vibes coming from Toronto! |
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JO21389
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| Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 9:36 pm Post subject: |
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| Thanks, I really appreciate it. |
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Hephaestion
Deeply Shallow
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| Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2007 3:14 pm Post subject: |
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Here's an article which might help encourage you, Yasmin:
The new face of gay activism: younger, politically aware... and often straight
| Quote: | ... Young people, some barely in their teens, are becoming the gay rights movement's newest ambassadors at statehouses from Olympia, Wash., to Montpelier, Vt. Their advocacy, unheard of as recently as a decade ago, reflects the slowly growing acceptance that is emboldening gays and lesbians to come out of the closet while they are coming of age.
[...]
Veteran activists credit the political participation of gay youth, their straight friends and children of same-sex parents with a string of recent legislative victories, including last month's passage of an anti-bullying bill that provides specific protections for gay and lesbian students in Iowa.
The law's adoption came after the Iowa Pride Network issued a report saying more than 83 percent of the state's gay, lesbian and transgender students said they had been verbally harassed because of their sexual orientation.
"We kept getting comments from legislators of 'There aren't gay kids in Iowa, this is an East and West Coast problem,'" said Ryan Roemerman, the network's director.
The group also arranged a news conference attended by Iowa's lieutenant governor and three students who provided firsthand accounts of discrimination. They included a girl who was kicked out of her Catholic high school after she came out as a lesbian and another who said she wasn't allowed into the locker room to change with other girls.
Brad Anderson, spokesman for Iowa Gov. Chet Culver, said the organized lobbying effort, which also included a 1,000-person rally at Drake University, was "absolutely critical" in getting the legislation approved.
"They added a loud voice, just physically being in the Capitol, and you saw them working all hours of the day lobbying to get this stuff passed," Anderson said.
[...]
Yet the most effective spokespeople are not necessarily gay youth, but the straight students who joined with them to form more than 2,500 high school gay-straight alliance clubs across the country since the early 1990s.
Carolyn Lamb, director of California's Gay-Straight Alliance Network, estimates that up to 40 percent of the 400 high school and college students bused to Sacramento last week for Queer Youth Advocacy Day were not gay, lesbian or transgender.
"Most of the adult-driven (gay) civil rights work doesn't have such large numbers of straight allies who see it as a civil rights cause," she observed.
While previous generations waited well into adulthood before identifying themselves as gay, the average age at which gay children came out to friends and families in 2005 was 13 years and 4 months, according to Caitlin Ryan, a San Francisco State University researcher. |
You are doing great work! Keep up the struggle, 'coz we *are* slowly changing things, and young people like you are the wave of the future.
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West Coast Tiger
Super-Link Mistress
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
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Location: Obviously Concealed
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| Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2007 3:10 pm Post subject: |
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You know, after reading through this thread, piece by piece the last few days, I've come to see that there is a genuine need for these students to gather on one common board to discuss their individual battles, get moral (and otherwise) support, and to work together as a kind of team.
Perhaps there needs to be more organization in terms of gathering these clubs together and keeping them all in contact with one another. I don't know... I haven't done enough research on this subject to determine how much support they are already getting. But it IS nice to know that they have a 'safe zone' here at EM and likely other boards in order to sound off and so on.
Still, it seems to me like there needs to be some sort of MASS organized messaging system in place to alert these young folks of boards where they can gather together, en masse, to achieve their aims --- like all the clubs should be emailed to meet at (a) specific board(s). Am I making sense here?
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Amy Grace
The space-age robot
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Location: The Drive
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| Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2007 4:00 pm Post subject: |
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| Yeah, I think it would be an awesome resource. Actually, unless you had it in mind, I was thinking that I might take that on at the end of term. I am not currently involved in GSA groups because I am not in high school, but I was heavily involved in organizing one about 7 years ago (oh eep, that makes me feel old. high school seems like a few months ago), and I'd like to keep involved with the cause. |
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Hephaestion
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| Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2007 1:03 am Post subject: |
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HA!!!!!
Judge Orders Florida School District To Allow Gay Club
| Quote: | (Okeechobee, Florida) A Federal judge has ruled the Okeechobee County school board cannot prevent students from organizing a Gay-Straight Alliance on campus.
U.S. District Court Judge K. Michael Moore agreed with the American Civil Liberties Union that barring the GSA violated the Equal Access Act.
It also is the first ruling in Florida to find that GSAs are not by definition "sex-based" clubs, something that the school board had claimed.
Moore rejected rejected the school¹s argument that the club would violate what the board said was a state abstinence-only education policy.
Moore issued a temporary injunction allowing the club to meet while the ACLU and the Board continue their legal battle.
In a 12 page ruling the judge said that the litigants showed they would likely succeed in their lawsuit against the school district.
"This decision sends a clear message to other schools that they face a similar fate in federal court if they choose to discriminate by deliberately misrepresenting GSAs as something they¹re not," said lead attorney Rob Rosenwald, Director of the ACLU of Florida¹s LGBT Advocacy Project.
"Violence and harassment against gay students is a rampant problem in Florida."
[...]
"This is great news," said Gonzalez, when she learned of the ruling/
"Even though I am graduating this year, I now know that by standing up to intolerance today, future students at OHS will benefit from a more open environment and not have to endure the same treatment from our school in the future." |
CONGRATULATIONS, YASMIN!!!! 
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Diane Demorney
Sure. Fine. Whatever.
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Location: Calgary
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| Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2007 1:05 am Post subject: |
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This is fantastic news. What Heph said, Yasmin!
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The truth is out there... |
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Tehanu
More or less, more or less
Joined: 12 Apr 2006
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| Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2007 1:14 am Post subject: |
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| Three cheers for Yasmin!!! And all the other students. What great news. |
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Raos
volatilis vir
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
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Location: Petropolis
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| Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2007 1:18 am Post subject: |
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| That's fantastic news! Congratulations! |
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Hephaestion
Deeply Shallow
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| Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2007 11:48 am Post subject: |
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I imagine Yasmin and Justin and some others could relate to this:
| Quote: | On a dismal, rainy afternoon, over tea and Pepsi and a plate of fries at the Bob Evans restaurant in Cannonsburg, Kentucky, Bill Scaggs, a retired government and public-relations executive of ARMCO Steel, told me why he thinks that homosexuality is the greatest threat to America. "AIDS kills," was his circa 1984 answer, "and the most common way to pass that on of course is from homosexual contact." His voice cracking with indignation, Scaggs added that he refuses to use the word gay. "It's homosexual, or worse," he says. "Gay is in our Kentucky song! They took it away and trampled on it. We want it back."
Scaggs is a board member of Defenders Voice, a local organization formed two years ago by a group of ministers and their followers who fought the formation of a Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) at Boyd County High School, just up the road from where we sat. Located on a stretch of state highway dotted with churches, dollar stores, payday lenders, and a drive-through cigarette store, the high school had become a place where anti-gay harassment had become an everyday occurrence.
Most of the time, student organizers of the Boyd County GSA said, the basis for the harassment was religious. One of the organizers, Libby Fugett, said that "most of the people at school, even the younger people, who would call us names at school, they would cuss at us; they would say, You f'ing fag, you're going to hell. . . . They just think it's excusable because their religion backs it up. And that was a really big part of it. It's okay for them to sin against us because we're sinners."
Leading the charge against the GSA were ministers, led by the Rev. Tim York, who said they "believe the Bible to be the word of God; we believe that homosexuality is a sin." (In 2004, York, who is now the pastor of a church in Nashville, ran an unsuccessful campaign for the Kentucky Senate on an anti-gay-marriage platform, with backing from the state and national Republican parties.) York and his followers exerted such intense pressure on school officials that it influenced their decision on the GSA, ultimately forcing the students to sue the school system in order have the GSA recognized. |
Well, I don't for a second believe that it took much arm-twisting or effort to "influence" school board officials -- they seemed quite eager (and persistant) in their bigotry, to the point of costing the Boyd County High School board multi-thousands of dollars in settlements and legal fees.
But these anti-GSA bigots are tied in with a lot more than just persecuting innocent high school students; there's literally billions of dollars involved, and the goal is no less than the overthrow of one of the most basic principles of the US constitution. More from Sarah Posner, of the Washington Spectator...
Related threads:
The ADF: legal shock troops for gawd.
The "right" to free homophobic speech
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Hephaestion
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| Posted: Fri Apr 27, 2007 9:20 pm Post subject: |
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Lawyers barred from questioning students about their sexuality
| Quote: | (Okeechobee, Florida) A federal judge Thursday issued an order to lawyers battling to prevent a Gay-Straight Organization from forming at an Okeechobee from questioning student witnesses about their sexuality.
[...]
Thursday judge Frank J. Lynch, who will hear the civil rights suit, agreed to an ACLU motion which argued that defense attorneys' questions about students' sexual orientation would lead to "annoyance, embarrassment or oppression."
Some students expected to testify in the case had expressed concerns they would be grilled by lawyers for the school district about their sexuality.
In his written ruling Lynch wrote that he did "not see why this sensitive information is necessary or even relevant to deciding the plaintiff's rights under the Equal Access Act in light of alternative sources of information regarding the club." |
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Hephaestion
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| Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2007 1:53 pm Post subject: |
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Florida School Board Preparing New Attempt To Ban Gay Student Group
| Quote: | Despite an ongoing federal lawsuit challenging the Okeechobee County School Board's banning of a Gay-Straight Organization the board is moving to tighten its rules governing clubs.
In April U.S. District Court Judge K. Michael Moore issued a preliminary injunction ordering the school district to allow the club to meet on school property while the civil rights lawsuit is being heard.
Nevertheless the school board is moving forward with new regulations to bar what it calls "sex-based clubs," a move the American Civil Liberties Union which is representing the gay students at the school says is aimed at trying to skirt the injunction.
The board will hold a final vote next month on the new regulations.
The ACLU says if the measures pass it will return to court for a new injunction and seek legal costs. |
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Hephaestion
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| Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 8:44 pm Post subject: |
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Hononegah panel: No Gay Straight Alliance
| Quote: | ROCKTON — The Hononegah School Board’s co-curricular committee decided Monday night not to support the formation of a Gay Straight Alliance Club at the high school. It plans to recommend to the full School Board that it vote against the proposal when it meets in August.
[...]
The committee later revealed that it received a letter before the meeting from the ACLU. While it did not contain threats of legal action, Superintendent Randy Gross said, it did recommend for legal reasons that the board support formation of the GSA.
“I am sure they hate dealing with this subject with the sword of the ACLU dangling over its head,” Llewellyn said. |
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Hephaestion
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| Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 8:45 pm Post subject: |
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Okeechobee County School Board moves closer to banning 'sex-based' clubs
| Quote: | The Okeechobee County School Board on Tuesday moved closer to banning what it calls "sex-based clubs," student groups that challenge the district's abstinence-only sex education, according to district officials.
However, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union said the board's intent is to attack students who have formed a club to promote tolerance of gay men and lesbians, and who have sued the district for keeping the club off school grounds much of last school year.
Should the school board adopt the new rule in a final vote next month, "I will seek further judicial relief, including additional substantial attorneys' fees," ACLU attorney Robert Rosenwald wrote in a letter to an attorney for the school district.
[...]
The Gay-Straight Alliance's lawsuit against the school board continues to move through the court system, and there was talk recently of settling, Rosenwald said.
However the district's proposed new "Draconian policy" shows "they want to drag this out to the end," Rosenwald said. |
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Hephaestion
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| Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 12:35 pm Post subject: |
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School Board Moves To Tighten Restriction On GSA
| Quote: | | (Okeechobee, Florida) Despite an ongoing federal lawsuit challenging the Okeechobee County School Board's banning of a Gay-Straight Organization the board has moved to tighten its rules governing clubs. |
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Hephaestion
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| Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2007 12:46 pm Post subject: |
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Federal Appeals Court Tosses Sections LGBT Student Diversity Program
| Quote: | (Ashland, Kentucky) A federal appeals court ruled Friday that some sections of a ruling requiring students to take part in a diversity program that included LGBT issues violated the civil rights of a student whose religion opposes homosexuality.
In a 2-1 ruling the court found that sections threatening punishment for students who spoke out against homosexuality on the basis of church teaching were unconstitutional. But the court held that the program itself, was not illegal.
The training sessions were part of a settlement in 2004 of a three-year dispute between the Boyd County school district, in eastern Kentucky, and a now-defunct gay-rights group that wanted recognition as an extracurricular group.
[...]
Student Timothy Allen Morrison II, his parents and two other parents sued the Board of Education over that requirement, which penalized students with an unexcused absence if they did not attend the training.
When they lost the case was appealed the ruling to the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati. They were represented by Arizona-based Christian legal group, the Alliance Defense Fund, which regularly challenges LGBT cases.
In its ruling the court agreed with Morrison that areas of the program threatening discipline imposed a "chill" on his ability to profess his Christian faith, but said that the basic concept of the program was fine.
[...]
The ACLU, which represented LGBT students in the original case said it agreed with the court's ruling.
"The court understood what we¹ve been saying all along that you don¹t have to violate anyone¹s First Amendment rights to protect gay and lesbian students from being harassed at school," said Sharon McGowan, a staff attorney with the ACLU¹s national Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Project. |
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Hephaestion
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| Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 6:07 pm Post subject: |
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Gay Club, Okeechobee High trial starts in June
| Quote: | A judge has agreed to push back the start of a trial involving the Gay-Straight Alliance of Okeechobee High School.
The trial, pitting the club against the Okeechobee County School Board, will start in June, according to an order today by U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore. The trial originally was slated to begin in March.
The ACLU, which represents the club and its founder, had requested the trial be pushed back until September, arguing that lawyers for the school board had only recently revealed they would be relying heavily on expert witnesses, though they've refused to share their names. |
The Palm Beach Post has earlier reported that:
| Quote: | According to a summary Weller sent to Rosenwald on Oct. 26, the school board plans to use four experts, who will testify on topics including:
# "Negative health effects of homosexual sex."
# "Serious consequences" of heterosexual teenage sexual activity, such as teen pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases and "poorer emotional health."
# That "homosexuality lifestyle/relationships are appropriate topics beginning at college age."
# The "need to prevent contact by underage students with adult-only material." |
Follow-up:
| Quote: | Now attorneys for the school district want the judge to drop an order that forced the school to allow the club to meet on campus. In a court document filed Wednesday, school board attorney David Gibbs said it is "inequitable" to force the school to permit a club "that has no members, no officers, no meetings and no events."
Former Gay-Straight Alliance president Yasmin Gonzalez, who has graduated from Okeechobee High School, remains a plaintiff in the lawsuit, which claims the school district violated the federal Equal Access Act by allowing other clubs to meet on campus but banning the Gay-Straight Alliance.
[...]
After Gonzalez graduated in 2007, student Jessica Donaldson took over duties as president until February, when she transferred to another school, according to court records.
Another student, Stephanie Gardner, briefly served as president but since has left the school. According to attorneys for the ACLU, Gardner left because she felt the school "was not providing her with the support she needed in order to graduate." Gibbs said in his filing that Gardner "failed to abide by basic OHS rules" and "was withdrawn" by school officials.
"There is no doubt in my mind that the club's membership has been sacrificed due to the school's hostile comments and policies" toward gay and bisexual students and their straight friends, said Brandon Hensler, a spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union, which represents Gonzalez.
[...]
The ACLU now wants to add Donaldson as a plaintiff in the case, according to court records. |
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Doug
Fulltime enMasse Member
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
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| Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 2:38 am Post subject: |
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| Hephaestion wrote: |
| Quote: | According to a summary Weller sent to Rosenwald on Oct. 26, the school board plans to use four experts, who will testify on topics including:
# "Negative health effects of homosexual sex."
# "Serious consequences" of heterosexual teenage sexual activity, such as teen pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases and "poorer emotional health."
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 In which case, the students are clearly doomed either way unless they get school-issue chastity belts, so why bother? |
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Hephaestion
Deeply Shallow
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
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| Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 6:31 pm Post subject: |
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Okeechobee GSA without students, so judge rescinds order -- but the case will still proceed
| Quote: | Even though Okeechobee High School's Gay-Straight Alliance no longer has any members, a federal lawsuit by a former GSA member is continuing.
This week a judge rescinded an earlier ruling that required the school board to allow the GSA to meet on campus while the lawsuit played out.
U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore agreed to a motion by school board attorney David Gibbs who argued that it is "inequitable" to force the school to permit a club to meet on school property "that has no members, no officers, no meetings and no events."
Nevertheless the lawsuit by the GSA's former president Yasmin Gonzalez, who now attends university, will go to trial in June. |
Your good work lives on, Yasmin, despite your absence. Hopefully it will profit future students in Okeechobee.
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Hephaestion
Deeply Shallow
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| Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 1:20 am Post subject: |
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Okeechobee GSA reforms with new membership
| Quote: | Two students this week reorganized the GSA after all of its original members had either graduated or left the school.
Even though the organization was without members this month the ACLU said it was continuing the lawsuit. The new students are being added. The original president of the club, Yasmin Gonzalez, now a college student, remains on the suit.
[...]
Now that the club has reformed the ACLU wants the ruling reinstated. The school district says it will fight the reinstatement. |
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Hephaestion
Deeply Shallow
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| Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 2:19 pm Post subject: |
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Judge tosses lawsuit over gay club at Okeechobee High
| Quote: | A federal judge has tossed out a lawsuit filed by an Okeechobee High School graduate who said she was wrongfully denied the right to start a Gay-Straight Alliance on campus.
The former student, Yasmin Gonzalez, has graduated, so she's no longer affected by the school's decision to ban the club, U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore said in a ruling Wednesday.
Gonzalez's attorneys with the ACLU tried to maintain her stake in the case by seeking nominal monetary damages, but Moore ruled she isn't entitled to any money because she wasn't claiming violations of due process.
"We were surprised and disappointed by his interpretation," said Rob Rosenwald, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union. Rosenwald plans to ask the judge to reconsider. |
Feral comments to me:
| Quote: | I'm frankly kind of surprised and disappointed that Mr. Rosenwald is surprised and disappointed. It's not like this is the first time a case has been dismissed because it's been made moot by the passage of time.
One could always look on the brighter side of things -- there is a lesson here: when defending the rights of a GSA, someone who isn't a teenager really does have a bit of an obligation to manage the situation. Why do I have the sneaking suspicion that the revelation that the club had not members and thus no meetings came as a surprise? Perhaps it was both a surprise and a disappointment.
Make no mistake -- fostering a hostile environment and employing delaying tactics until the uppity 'mos graduate will become the strategy of choice amongst the 'phobes. It needs to be countered. |
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Hephaestion
Deeply Shallow
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| Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2008 11:57 am Post subject: |
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I meant to post this a couple of days ago...
"Crip" writes to me:
| Quote: | On the Okeechobee GSA, the ACLU needs to do a couple of things:
1. Re-file a new lawsuit with new kids as Plaintiffs... one that DOES claim denial of due process. The fate of the lawsuits that have gone before makes the case for such a denial, in that the nature of the system of judicial review (i.e., its slowness) necessarily and of itself denies said due process.
2. The ACLU needs to file a separate lawsuit-- this one a class action-- wherein the Plaintiffs are the property-tax payers of the county in which Okeechobee is situated. Those taxpayers' minor children are likewise being denied their rights and the parents have legal standing to challenge the discriminatory actions of the school vis a vis their kids. The parents as a class remain and their number is replenished every year as new kids go to the school, hence the Plaintiffs will not "age out" of their Plaintiff status. |
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Hephaestion
Deeply Shallow
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Location: Where the Wild Things Are...
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| Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 5:24 pm Post subject: |
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Bid To Reopen Fla. Gay Club Suit
| Quote: | A lawsuit against a Florida school district that banned a gay student group from meeting on campus should be reinstated the American Civil Liberties Union says.
[...]
In a motion to reopen the case the ACLU argues that even though Yasmin Gonzalez is no longer at the school, students who have since joined the Gay-Straight Alliance are facing the same discrimination as Gonzales.
In court papers a new student is listed as the complainant - Brittany Martin - a junior who revived the club after Gonzalez graduated but has not been allowed to have meetings on campus.
U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore has not indicated when he will rule. |
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Hephaestion
Deeply Shallow
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| Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 10:09 pm Post subject: |
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Another Twist In Florida Gay Student Group Suit
| Quote: | A lawsuit against a Florida school district that banned a gay student group from meeting on campus should not be reinstated attorney's for the Okeechobee school district have told a federal judge.
[...]
In a motion asking that the ACLU request be denied school board lawyer David Gibbs said the revived club was not denied access because it was gay, but rather because it was too late in the school year for a new club to be formed.
Gibbs' motion notes that several other clubs were also denied, including one that students wanted to set up to help cope with the deaths of two Okeechobee students.
Judge Moore has not indicated when he would rule on either motion. |
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Hephaestion
Deeply Shallow
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| Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 10:12 am Post subject: |
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This seems like it'd fit well in this thread...
Federal Judge Hears Gay Button Case
| Quote: | A Florida high school is "trampling the First Amendment rights of students who support equal rights for gay people", a federal judge was told on Monday.
Heather Gillman, a 16-year-old junior at Ponce de Leon High School, is suing the school after she was told she could not wear buttons, stickers or clothing that supported LGBT civil rights.
After she received the warning the ACLU last November sent a letter in November to the school board¹s attorney on behalf of Gillman, asking for clarification as to whether a variety of symbols and slogans, such as the rainbow flag or "I support my gay friends," would be allowed at the school.
The school district replied that it would not allow any expressions of support for gay rights at all because such speech would "likely be disruptive."
The district then said that such symbols and slogans were signs that students were part of a "secret/illegal organization." according to the ACLU.
[...]
According to students, problems began in September when a lesbian student tried to report to school officials that she was being harassed by other students because she is a lesbian. Instead of addressing the harassment, students say the school responded with intimidation and censorship. |
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Hephaestion
Deeply Shallow
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| Posted: Wed May 14, 2008 12:40 am Post subject: |
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Federal Court Rules For Gay Students In Button Case
| Quote: | After a two-day trial in which a Florida high school principal testified that he believed clothing, buttons or stickers featuring rainbows would make students automatically picture gay people having sex, a federal judge today ruled that the school violated the First Amendment rights of students.
[...]
Judge Richard Smoak of the United States District Court issued an order Tuesday that forces the school to stop its censorship of students who want to express their support for gay people. The judge also warned the district not to retaliate against students over the lawsuit.
"Standing up to my school was really hard to do, but I'm so happy that I did because the First Amendment is a big deal to everyone," said Gillman in a statement.
During the trial, which was held in Panama City yesterday and today, Ponce de Leon High School's principal David Davis admitted under oath that he had banned students from wearing any clothing or symbols supporting equal rights for gay people.
Davis also testified that he believed rainbows were "sexually suggestive" and would make students unable to study because they'd be picturing gay sex acts in their mind. The principal went on to admit that while censoring rainbows and gay pride messages he allowed students to wear other symbols many find controversial, such as the Confederate flag. |
Rainbows are "sexually suggestive"?!?! Oh, puh-LEEEEZE!
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TS.
Delicious schadenfreude
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
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Location: Toronto, ON
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| Posted: Wed May 14, 2008 12:41 am Post subject: |
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Good to know some American judges have some sense.
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Rufus Polson
Purple Library Guy
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
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Location: SFU and/or the college of Riddlemastery at Caithnard
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| Posted: Wed May 14, 2008 7:04 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | would make students unable to study because they'd be picturing gay sex acts in their mind. |
What is with these people?
These Xtianofascists always seem so utterly fascinated with homosexuality. They all seem to be like "We'd all be gay, every last one of us, if we weren't eternally vigilant against the temptation, if we didn't try rilly rilly hard to forget gayness even exists. Gay sex is just so much more fascinating than straight sex, we're all helpless against its fatal allure!" Sheesh, if they're that gay they really need to just admit to themselves that they're gay. For the rest of us, normally the reason we don't call ourselves gay is precisely that picturing gay sex acts in our minds just isn't that fascinating.
Anyhoo, I got a news bulletin for him: His straight students are mostly already unable to study because they're picturing straight sex acts in their mind, and they don't need any rainbows to help them out. We are talking about teenagers here, dude. |
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Tehanu
More or less, more or less
Joined: 12 Apr 2006
Posts: 16607
Location: Toronto
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| Posted: Wed May 14, 2008 7:30 pm Post subject: |
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| Rufus Polson wrote: | | They all seem to be like "We'd all be gay, every last one of us, if we weren't eternally vigilant against the temptation, if we didn't try rilly rilly hard to forget gayness even exists. |
Bingo. Every time I hear some jerk frothing at the mouth about homosexuality, there's a little tiny bell that goes off in my head. Along the lines of "okay, just wait for the headlines, you'll be outed soon enough." |
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Hephaestion
Deeply Shallow
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
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Location: Where the Wild Things Are...
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| Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 10:16 am Post subject: |
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Meeting with Ottawa's high school heroes
| Quote: | The teens I met at the GSA meeting last month came from all over the city, and some rural areas. One young woman had taken a bus for an hour, and then driven another hour into the city, just to be around other like-minded kids. She asked me how I thought she could help promote diversity in a small white-bread school, where some students are still driven to class every day in tractors.
She'd tried putting up posters, but they had been torn down. And she could only seem to get a couple of people to come to her monthly meetings. A big smile crept across her face when I told her that the last meeting of Ottawa Dyke March organizers that I attended only attracted four people. But I reminded her that if you multiply the three people at her school, with the handfuls of kids at other Ottawa schools, they had a real force for change on their hands.
The boy in the cleats lit up and told me about the movie nights and panel discussions he'd helped organize, and then asked me eagerly how he and his friends could help support the Dyke March.
This is when I realized something that should have been clear to me when I first walked in the door. Most of these kids don't identify as gay. (These are teens from gay-straight alliances, after all.) They just don't feel like they fit into the mainstream, and feel driven to make high school a better place for the gay and trans people they know.
"I wish I had been around for the race riots or women's liberation," said Cleat Boy. "I don't understand how everyone isn't interested in fighting for human rights. It's just the right thing to do."
Yes, those words came out of the mouth of a straight 17-year old boy. Who knows? Maybe he'll come out when he gets older. Or maybe not. Either way, it bodes well for the generation of young people that are poised to succeed the Baby Boomers. |
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Hephaestion
Deeply Shallow
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| Posted: Wed May 21, 2008 9:52 am Post subject: |
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Okeechobee Florida GSA case back on
| Quote: | A federal judge has reopened a lawsuit that seeks to allow the establishment of a Gay-Straight Alliance at Okeechobee High School.
[...]
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a motion last month seeking to reopen the case after Brittany Martin, another student tried to revive the club but also was told the Gay-Straight Alliance could not meet in school facilities.
In agreeing to reopen the suit Judge Moore said that his decision was based on the school's refusal to allow the reformed club to meet.
The school district attempted to stave off reopening the case, arguing the school had decided against allowing the club to meet because it was too late in the year. Judge Moore rejected the argument.
"Permitting Martin to join would require this court to reopen discovery for her deposition and allow the parties to re-file motions for summary judgment, thereby necessitating continuance of the trial date," Moore said in a written ruling.
"Denying Martin permission to join would require her to initiate a new action seeking equitable relief and damages, the evidence for which would be nearly identical to the evidence that will be presented in this action."
The case will go to trial on Sept. 2. |
HA!!!
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Raos
volatilis vir
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
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Location: Petropolis
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| Posted: Wed May 21, 2008 9:03 pm Post subject: |
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| Good news is nice, isn't it? |
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Hephaestion
Deeply Shallow
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Location: Where the Wild Things Are...
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| Posted: Thu May 22, 2008 1:30 pm Post subject: |
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South Carolina principal resigns over plan to create GSA
| Quote: | "The formation of this club conflicts with my professional beliefs in that we do not have other clubs at Irmo High school based on sexual orientation, sexual preference, or sexual activity. In fact our sex education curriculum is abstinence based. I feel the formation of a Gay/Straight Alliance Club at Irmo High school implies that students joining the club will have chosen to or will choose to engage in sexual activity with members of the same sex, opposite sex, or members of both sexes.
"My decision to resign is a personal choice based on my professional beliefs and religious convictions. I have prayed about the decision for a period of time and I have a peace about it. I would ask that you respect my choice as I respect your choice to disagree with me on this issue. I bear no malice towards anyone involved."
Click here to read Principal Eddie Walker's complete letter.
Tuesday Lexington School District Five issued a statement through Director of Community Services Buddy Price.
It says, "The federal law known as the Equal Access Act does not permit the school to discriminate against a club based on the club's purpose and viewpoint by not allowing it to form unless the purpose of the club is unlawful." |
... the Equal Access Act, I hasten to reiterate, that was passed during the Ronnie Raygun era, specifically to allow religious groups access to school district facilities for meeting places; these fundies are just pissed off that their own rule(s) are now being used for the benefit of those they vehemently disagree with, and want to silence.
| Quote: | Wednesday, the district followed up with a statement from spokesperson Michelle Foster.
"Attorneys have advised the school district that prohibiting the formation of this club would most certainly result in a costly lawsuit ... The only other recourse the school district would have would be to eliminate all non-curricular clubs all together." |
... including their precious religious groups. Golly this must rankle these fundy bigots -- but at least it seems they're starting to "get it".
| Quote: | "It is a shame that the principal at Irmo High School in South Carolina decided to place religion-based bigotry and discrimination over his former commitment to his students and staff," said Faith In America Executive Director Brent Childers.
Click here to read Childers' complete statement |
Related story: Queer-positive group "Sean's Last Wish" comments on Irmo Principal's resignation
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Rufus Polson
Purple Library Guy
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 2875
Location: SFU and/or the college of Riddlemastery at Caithnard
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| Posted: Thu May 22, 2008 9:06 pm Post subject: |
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| Tehanu wrote: | | Rufus Polson wrote: | | They all seem to be like "We'd all be gay, every last one of us, if we weren't eternally vigilant against the temptation, if we didn't try rilly rilly hard to forget gayness even exists. |
Bingo. Every time I hear some jerk frothing at the mouth about homosexuality, there's a little tiny bell that goes off in my head. Along the lines of "okay, just wait for the headlines, you'll be outed soon enough." |
Some of them. Some of them I think it's just that they're so repressed that anything they consider forbidden acquires an attraction way beyond anything inherent in it. So when you get a Haggard, it always seems like he doesn't just have gay sex in a loving relationship, instead it has to be as tawdry and twisted as possible, with drugs and prostitution and whatever other kinks they can come up with. Because sex is dirty, that means anything dirty must be sexy--and because they've decided same-sex attraction is particularly dirty, that must make it particularly sexy.
So I think some of these bible-thumping people who do the same-sex messing around really aren't gay in the normal sense. Technically speaking, I think they're actually just sick, twisted fucks--not very much like typical decent gay people at all. |
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Hephaestion
Deeply Shallow
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| Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2008 7:07 pm Post subject: |
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Mission bans gay posters in schools; images deemed too 'graphic' for some students, staff
| Quote: | Last year, Mike Ross tried unsuccessfully to get the Mission school board to introduce a comprehensive anti-homophobia policy. Now the Grade 1 teacher has personally taken on the task of fostering a gay-friendly environment for students, staff and families in his district - with limited success.
[...]
n late April, Ross prepared an information package for each of the schools in his district, including materials from the Fondation Émergence's 2006-2008 International Day Against Homophobia campaigns, to be displayed in staff rooms until May 17.
But shortly after appearing on the bulletin board at Christine Morrison Elementary school, the posters were taken down.
The district's Director of Instruction, Randy Huth, says that 2008's posters are "quite graphic" and were judged inappropriate for posting in Mission's 16 elementary school staff rooms.
[...]
Huth says the image combines "the graphic depiction of substance abuse with homosexuality."
"That's not what we were aiming for when we were designing the poster," says Fondation Émergence representative Lauren Gosselin. "The message that we want to send out is basically a very simple one: homosexuality is not a disease, period."
Huth feels the poster contains "quite a confusing message" and that although students are generally not allowed in staff rooms, the posters were deemed inappropriate "even for staff too."
Gosselin says that to his knowledge this is the first incidence of the 2008 poster being censored.
Huth offered no formal reason for the district's choice to also ban the 2007 poster, which features a newborn wearing a hospital bracelet labelled "homosexual" and the slogan "Sexual orientation is not a choice."
[...]
Huth says the posters were taken down after one of Ross' colleagues came to the board with what he would only call "concerns".
[...]
With the one approved poster in low supply, Ross contacted the Mission Teachers Union (MTU). He then sat down to colour new posters by hand to send to union representatives for display in each school.
Mike Trask, president of the MTU, says that the collective agreement between the teachers and the school board requires that each school have a union bulletin board and that administrators cannot remove items posted on such boards.
Trask recently met with the district's union representatives and says that no concerns about the new posters were raised. In future years, he says, the union will "get ahead of the curve" and approve anti-homophobia posters well in advance.
[...]
"I'm an impatient man," says Ross. "I don't want children jumping off of bridges, committing suicide, being beaten and battered because people actually believe that there is no problem here and that people [in Mission] are just fine with people being LGBT. If they were, why do we have our LGBT students not coming out here?"
It took Ross until he was 47 years old to publicly come out. He says that he knows several teens in Mission who have chosen to stay in the closet and that no other teacher in the district has opened up to him about being queer or trans.
"I know I'm not the only one. But if I have to be the only vocal one, so be it. I'm willing to do that." |
Good on Mike Ross, and a big "BOOOO!" to Randy Huth for what I can only construe as either homophobia or the gutlessness to stand up against homophobia.
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Hephaestion
Deeply Shallow
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| Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 11:08 am Post subject: |
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FOLLOW-UP: SC School Begrudgingly Allows GSA
| Quote: | The resignation announcement sparked a fury of controversy in the community and led to demands by parents that the Gay-Straight Alliance be officially barred from organizing.
Faced with the threat of a lawsuit in support of the gay students the Lexington-Richland School District 5 school board considered a proposal to ban all extra-curricular clubs.
Instead, the board now has voted to allow clubs, but to give parents the right to decide which clubs their children can join. The board also voted to prohibit clubs from discussing sexually explicit topics in keeping with the district’s abstinence-based curriculum. |
Seems like the bigots in South Carolina have been paying attention to the bigots in Utah...
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Hephaestion
Deeply Shallow
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| Posted: Tue Jul 29, 2008 4:20 pm Post subject: |
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Further to:
| Hephaestion wrote: | Federal Court Rules For Gay Students In Button Case
| Quote: | After a two-day trial in which a Florida high school principal testified that he believed clothing, buttons or stickers featuring rainbows would make students automatically picture gay people having sex, a federal judge today ruled that the school violated the First Amendment rights of students.
[...]
Judge Richard Smoak of the United States District Court issued an order Tuesday that forces the school to stop its censorship of students who want to express their support for gay people. The judge also warned the district not to retaliate against students over the lawsuit. |
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Judge's written ruling released: Principal went on "gay witch hunt"
| Quote: | Ponce de Leon, Florida) A federal judge has accused a Florida high school principal of going on a witch hunt for gays.
In a stinging rebuke, US District Judge Richard Smoak, said in a written ruling that Ponce de Leon High School principal David Davis led a “relentless crusade” against homosexuality at the school.
“Davis embarked on what can only be characterized as a witch hunt,” Smoak’s ruling said. The ruling also said that Davis led “morality assemblies” that ignored the First Amendment.
The written ruling was released two months after student Heather Gillman and the American Civil Liberties Union won a free-speech lawsuit that cost the school district $325,000.
Davis has since been replaced as principal.
[...]
Prior to the release of his written ruling, Smoak issued an order that forced the school to stop its censorship of students who want to express their support for gay people. The judge also warned the district not to retaliate against students over the lawsuit. |
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Hephaestion
Deeply Shallow
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Location: Where the Wild Things Are...
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| Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 10:53 am Post subject: |
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Okeechobee students win -- again -- in now precedent-setting case
| Quote: | A federal judge Wednesday ruled that Okeechobee High School must allow the establishment of a Gay-Straight Alliance, ending a legal battle that stretched across two years.
Students do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate,” Judge K. Michael Moore said in his written ruling.
[...]
In his ruling Moore made legal history for a federal court, saying that schools must provide for the well-being of gay students to the same extent as straight students, and therefore, the school may not discriminate against the GSA.
The school violated the students’ First Amendment rights, the ruling said.
Judge Moore quoted the famed 1969 Tinker case stating that students do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.” Moore went on to state that “the desire of the GSA to meet as a group to discuss matters pertinent to the challenges presented by their non-heterosexual identity and to build understanding and trust with other heterosexual students sounds in the political speech addressed in Tinker.”
[...]
In his order Moore grants students in the Okeechobee GSA “all the rights and privileges granted to other noncurricular groups.”
“Judge Moore’s ruling that GSAs are beneficial to gay students and that they don’t harm straight students is unparalleled. This is a clear victory for the students, for the Okeechobee GSA and indeed for all high school students in Florida,” said Robert Rosenwald, director of the ACLU of Florida LGBT Advocacy Project.
“These are brave students who would not be silenced and did not tolerate discrimination. So many children cannot stand up for themselves, but hopefully this ruling will serve as warning to other Florida schools that equal access truly means equal access, and schools that choose not to follow the law will be inviting similar litigation,” he said. |
Yay, Yasmin! Yay, Brittany Martin! You did it! 
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"The dignity of an animal is measured by his capacity to revolt in the face of oppression." -- Mikhail Bakunin |
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Hephaestion
Deeply Shallow
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 24243
Location: Where the Wild Things Are...
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| Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 9:46 pm Post subject: |
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Ponce de Leon townsfolk still don't get it...
| Quote: | The American Civil Liberties Union successfully sued the district on behalf of a girl who protested against Principal David Davis, and a federal judge reprimanded Davis for conducting a "witch hunt" against gays. Davis was demoted, and school employees must now go through sensitivity training.
And despite all that, many in this conservative Panhandle community still wonder what, exactly, Davis did wrong.
"We are a small, rural district in the Bible Belt with strong Christian beliefs and feel like homosexuality is wrong," said Steve Griffin, Holmes County's school superintendent, who keeps a Bible on his desk and framed Scriptures on his office walls.
Holmes County, on the Georgia line, has about 20,000 residents. There is some agriculture, but most people are employed either by prisons or schools; some commute to the Gulf Coast to work in tourism. Ponce de Leon, with fewer than 500 residents, has a cafe, a post office and an antique store.
Many in the community support Davis and feel outsiders are forcing their beliefs on them. Griffin, who kicked Davis out of the principal's office but allowed him to continue teaching at the school, said high schoolers here aren't exposed to the same things as kids in Atlanta or Chicago.
"I don't think we are that different from a lot of districts, at least in the Panhandle, that have beliefs that maybe are different from societal changes," Griffin said.
Gay rights activists said that's no excuse for what Davis did.
[...]
Heather Gillman, an 11th-grader who took part in the protests, complained to her mother, Ardena, a 40-year-old corrections officer and mother of three. Ardena Gillman called the ACLU, even though she knew people would be angry.
"I just felt like I had to stand up for the kids. Heather wanted to do this, and I had to back her," she said.
[...]
Ardena Gillman also knew some of the students would need to learn to be tolerant.
"What happens when these kids get out in the real world after they leave Ponce de Leon and they have a black, homosexual supervisor at their job?" she said.
[...]
As Ardena Gillman suspected, the lawsuit created hard feelings in town.
A Wal-Mart worker yelled at her, accusing her of trying to "bankrupt" the school district, which was ordered to pay $325,000 in ACLU attorney fees. One of her friends has refused to talk to her because the lawsuit conflicted with the woman's religious beliefs.
Others flatly hail Davis as a hero. "David Davis is a fine man and good principal, and we are a gentle, peaceful, Christian, family-oriented community," said Bill Griffin, 73 and a lifelong Ponce de Leon resident who is no relation to the district superintendent. "We aren't out to tar and feather anyone."
The lawsuit could reflect a division between the high school students who have grown up in an era of gay tolerance and the community's elders, said Gary Scott, a school board member. "But I think that's less of an issue here than in Miami or Minnesota," he said.
The judge's scathing rebuke left Scott questioning how his community's beliefs could be so different from the judge's opinion. "I guess I didn't realize we were this bad," Scott said. |
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"The dignity of an animal is measured by his capacity to revolt in the face of oppression." -- Mikhail Bakunin |
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