Schools Violate Federal Law if Ignoring Sex Harassment Mother & Daughter Victorious over Georgia School Moguls |
Compiled By GayToday
The ruling remands the case to the district court, vacating an Eleventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling that dismissed the lawsuit. The case was filed by Aurelia Davis, seeking damages after public school administrators in Monroe County, Georgia, ignored severe sexual harassment against her daughter LaShonda. Referring to Title IX, Justice O'Connor wrote:
Noting Nabozny v. Podlesny, Lambda's successful constitutional lawsuit against a Wisconsin school district that ignored student brutality against a gay classmate, the federal government recently clarified that sexual harassment directed at lesbian and gay students is also covered by Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. Lambda Legal Director Beatrice Dohrn said: "Sexual harassment of lesbian and gay students is a significant problem. The court has taken an important step in recognizing that school officials who turn a deaf ear to complaints of serious harassment and violence themselves facilitate the denial of educational opportunities to harassed students." Lambda Staff Attorney David Buckel said: "Today's decision is very important to our struggle to make schools safe for lesbian and gay students, as violence and harassment by peers is the most common form these problems take." Stephen R. Scarborough, staff attorney at Lambda's Southern Regional Office in Atlanta said: "The High Court ruling sustains one of the many tools available to stop the harassment of lesbian and gay students." Lambda, the nation's oldest and largest legal organization serving lesbians and gay men, joined an amicus brief authored by NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund. (Davis v. Monroe County Board of Education, No. 97-843) |