Spanish Fork High School teacher Wendy Weaver has won a landmark discrimination case against school officials who tried to stop her from discussing her sexual orientation.
In a sweeping, 25-page ruling issued Wednesday afternoon, U.S. District Senior Judge Bruce S. Jenkins said the Nebo School District violated Weaver's constitutional rights of free speech and equal protection."I feel elated," Weaver said after learning of her victory from ACLU attorney Stephen C. Clark. "Part of that is the fact that there is a chance that it all might be over. What I really wanted was for them to say they were wrong for firing me because of my sexual orientation. I think the ruling really validates that."
School district officials did not reply to requests for comment, and the state attorney representing the district was out of town and could not be reached. However, Palmer DePaulis, spokesman for the Utah Attorney Gen-er-al's Office, called the ruling "disappointing." A decision on whether to appeal will be made after a thorough review of the ruling, he said.
Weaver, a physical education and psychology teacher since 1979, lost her volleyball coaching assignment last year after school administrators learned she is a lesbian. She was also threatened with dismissal if she discussed her homosexual orientation and lifestyle with anyone in the school community, including parents and staff members.
With the backing of the ACLU, Weaver filed a lawsuit on Oct. 20, 1997, that challenged those actions and provoked a fierce debate that has attracted nationwide media attention. Last week, the lawyers on both sides of the issue submitted motions for summary judgment, or a decision based on the arguments and evidence rather than a trial.
Jenkins ruled in Weaver's favor on all the claims, ordering the school district to remove the two threatening letters from her personnel file, to offer her the girls' volleyball coaching job for the 1999-2000 school year and pay her $1,500 in damages.
At the core of the judge's ruling is a determination that state agencies cannot discriminate against an individual on the basis of sexual orientation. It is believed to be the first time a federal judge in Utah has addressed the issue directly.
According to Jenkins, most courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, have never recognized a person's sexual orientation as a status deserving of any heightened protection. That's "despite mounting evidence that gay males and lesbians suffer from employment discrimination and, as recent events in Wyoming remind us, other more life-threatening expressions of bias," he said.
He was referring to the murder in Wyoming last month of Matthew Shepherd, a 21-year-old gay college student.
Also, the federal government and 39 states, including Utah, don't offer statutory protection against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
"Nevertheless, the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution entitles all persons to equal protection under the law," Jenkins said. "It appears that the plain language of the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause prohibits a state government or agency from engaging in intentional discrimination - even on the basis of sexual orientation - absent some rational basis for so doing."
And the First Amendment, "the keystone of freedom," insulates citizens from government sanction or restraint for speaking out on unpopular or even hateful ideas, Jenkins added.
"Simple as it may sound, as a matter of fairness and evenhandedness, homosexuals should not be sanctioned or restricted for speech (where) heterosexuals are not likewise sanctioned or restricted," he said.
The controversy began in April 1997, shortly after Weaver divorced her husband of 15 years, Gary Weaver, and began living with another woman, Rachel Smith, in what she called a "marital-like relationship." Gary Weaver, a school psychologist for the Nebo District, allegedly discussed his wife's sexual orientation with Spanish Fork High Principal Robert Wadley.
About two months later, a member of the school's volleyball team asked Weaver, the team's coach, if she was gay. Weaver said she was.
The parents of the student then discussed the matter with district officials. On July 21, 1997, Wadley told Weaver she would not be given the coaching assignment for the next school year because he and district officials felt her comments about her sexual orientation had violated a district policy.
The next day, Weaver received a memo from district officials Almon Mosher and Larry Kimball threatening her with termination if she made any further comments regarding her sexual orientation.
Weaver said that while she never intended to discuss the matter in the classroom, the restrictions imposed upon her were unconstitutionally overbroad. Also, she said her removal as volleyball coach was based on a constitutionally impermissible reason: namely, sexual orientation.
School district attorneys argued the state's interest in preventing a disruption in school outweighed Weaver's interest in speaking out about her sexual orientation. They also said she could not assert a First Amendment claim because her sexual orientation was not a matter of public concern.
But Jenkins said the gag order went too far and was clearly intended to silence Weaver's speech because of its presumed pro-homosexual viewpoint.
"Indeed, these restrictions limit Ms. Weaver's ability to speak on her sexuality outside of the school, as, for example, when meeting a parent of a student in the supermarket, or when speaking at dinner with a friend who may be a staff member at the school, or even when speaking with her own children, who are students in the school district," Jenkins said.
As for the coaching assignment, the judge said he could find no job-related justification for removing Weaver. He said no one had disputed the fact that she was "an excellent coach and apparently, up until the time her sexual orientation was revealed, the likely candidate for the position."
Absent some "rational relationship to job performance," a decision not to assign her the coaching job because of her sexual orientation runs afoul of the 14th Amendment, Jenkins said.
"Although the Constitution cannot control prejudices, neither this court nor any other court should directly or indirectly legitimize them," the judge said.
And while Weaver did not raise the issue in her lawsuit, Jenkins said it appeared she might also have a freedom of association claim against the school district because she was punished for her private relationship with another woman.
"It's a tremendous step forward not only for gay and lesbian teachers but for gay and lesbians generally," Clark said. "It recognizes that gays and lesbians can't be discriminated against based on stereotypes and fears and prejudice."
Weaver said, "When we first filed the suit, it was personal. Then we saw a lot more of what was going on across the country and how gay teachers struggle. It's still hard for me to imagine how this would affect anyone else."
Weaver said she hasn't decided whether she would accept an offer to return to coaching. "That's something Rachel (Smith) and I will have to decide," she said. "We really don't know what it would take to go back to coaching."
Meanwhile, she continues to face a lawsuit filed in 4th District Court by a group of parents who contend her conduct violated state law and teacher certification requirements.
Matt Hilton, the attorney representing the group in the state court action, said he had expected Weaver to prevail on the free speech claim. However, he said the 4th District Court lawsuit focuses on entirely different issues, including the moral requirements for teacher certification. He said the lawsuit was filed because parents believe Weaver's federal lawsuit caused a "substantial disruption" to the school's educational environment, which is grounds for termination.