Students at a Southern California high school have called on the ACLU for help, saying they're experiencing bullying and discrimination from students and peers, and the ACLU has notified the Hesperia Unified School District of pending litigation, the L.A. Times reports:
The letter makes specific allegations against the faculty and administration of Sultana High School. It recounts “persistent censorship” of activities and announcements by the Gay-Straight Alliance club.
“Indeed, the club’s very name has typically been truncated from ‘Gay-Straight Alliance’ to ‘GSA’ when morning announcements are read over the intercom, with the words ‘gay,’ ‘lesbian,’ ‘bisexual,’ ‘transgender,’ and ‘queer’ omitted entirely,” the attorneys’ letter reads…
…The letter also accuses the school of allowing and failing to investigate discriminatory remarks by faculty and administration and pressuring the club's lesbian faculty advisor to leave, contributing to an atmosphere of hostility and bullying among students.
The school intends to hold its prom at a Los Angeles hotel in April, and students not dressed in traditional gender-defined clothes won’t be allowed on the bus to the event, according to attorneys. A number of young women in the club want to wear tuxedos to the prom. And a male student wants to wear heels with a tuxedo.
Watch an NBC4 report, AFTER THE JUMP…
