Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune, Jurist
For the second time in two years, the U.S. Court of Appeals has ruled against Osseo Area Schools in its efforts to keep a student-run gay rights group from having the same privileges as other clubs.
Friday's ruling affirmed a September 2007 decision by U.S. District Judge Joan Ericksen, who ruled that Straights and Gays for Equality (SAGE) should be on equal footing with other student groups at Maple Grove High School.
Related in Qnews: Students who filed lawsuit for gay-straight group talk about its goals
Two students belonging to SAGE sued the school district under the federal Equal Access Act (EAA), which prohibits secondary public schools from discriminating against student groups on the basis of the religious, political, philosophical, or other content of their speech, Jurist reports.
The plaintiffs alleged that administrators at Maple Grove High School (MGHS) had violated the EAA by designating SAGE as "noncurricular" -- a designation that prohibited the club from raising money, taking field trips and using school-sponsored avenues of communication - privileges given to curriculum-related groups.
Ericksen ruled that the school violated the EAA by giving access to the public address system and school bulletin boards to groups such as the Spirit Council, synchronized swimming, and Black Achievers while denying access to SAGE.
The school district appealed a district court order granting a permanent injunction under which SAGE was to have "the same access for meetings, avenues of communication, and other miscellaneous rights" as curricular groups.
But the appellate court rejected that argument. The other student groups are not curricular and are, essentially, the same as SAGE.
It is the second time the school district has been dealt a defeat by the federal appeals court. Ericksen issued a preliminary injunction against the school in April 2006, a ruling upheld by the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in December 2006.
Source: Court again backs Osseo gay-rights club | Minneapolis Star Tribune
Eighth Circuit orders school to give gay-rights group equal access | Jurist
Last modified: 29 Aug 08 10:10
state_mn, discrimination