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December 05, 2005
Judge Allows Lesbian Student To Sue School
Posted at December 5, 2005 01:14 PM in Gay & Lesbian Issues .
“Coming out is a very serious decision that should not be taken away from anyone, especially from students who may be put in peril if they live in an unsupportive home.” Christine P. Sun, staff attorney for the ACLU
A federal judge recently granted 17-year old Charlene Nguon permission to go forward with her suit claiming violation of privacy rights. U.S. District Judge James V. Selna ruled in a decision dated Nov. 28 and announced Thursday by the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California.
Orange County's Garden Grove district argued Nguon openly kissed and hugged her girlfriend on campus and thus had no expectation of privacy. The judge, however, ruled Nguon had "sufficiently alleged a legally protected privacy interest in information about her sexual orientation."
Nguon sued after Santiago High School Principal Ben Wolf told her mother about her sexuality last year. According to Nguon's mother, "the person to decide when and how to talk with our family about this should have been my daughter, not her principal."
District officials have declined to comment on the lawsuit.
The lawsuit also claims discrimination, contending Nguon was suspended several times for ignoring orders from the principal to stop hugging and kissing her girlfriend. Heterosexual couples engaging in similar behavior were not disciplined, the lawsuit contends. [Source: Yahoo News]
What will interest me about this case is how minors are handled going forward. It has always been the case that parents have custody and control of their minor children until said minor reaches the age of majority. Parents are entitled to raise their child in any way they see fit, that is, within reason and within legal boundaries.
In this case there is a clear double standard. A minor acting out sexually in school or on school grounds -- whether heterosexual or homosexual -- should receive the same treatment. In this case, however, a principal thought it necessary to out a young woman for displaying affection with her partner and yet, he apparently does nothing when other kids -- heterosexual -- are equally guilty of outward displays of affection.
It smacks of another ACLU case a few years ago when a Federal Appeals Court ruled that police violated a gay teen's constitutional rights when they threatened to tell his family that he was gay. The boy, unfortunately, committed suicide after the threat was made.
In that case, the young man, Marcus Wayman, 18, was in a parked car with a 17-year-old male when police questioned the two, found condoms while searching the car, and arrested them for under-age drinking. At the police station, officers lectured the two teens about the Bible's condemnation of homosexuality and threatened to tell Wayman's grandfather that he was gay. After Wayman, a high school football player, was released from police custody, he committed suicide in his home.
There are so many GLBT kids living on the streets of many cities because their parents have disowned them or kicked them out because it was discovered they are gay. Many commit suicide or choose another form of suicide through drugs and alcohol after experiencing this type of rejection. Some have been taken off to gay reform schools in an attempt to change them -- which can be equally traumatizing.
Sexuality is a tricky thing and I pray this form of "scared straight" is not permitted in our schools, by police, principals of schools, teachers or anyone else who disagrees with the child's choice. It could have devestating results.
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