Less than six months after a lawsuit demanding the approval of gay and lesbian clubs at East High School was tossed out of court, two more students are suing over the right to form gay and lesbian clubs.
Through their attorneys, East High juniors Jessica Cohen and Margaret Hinckley filed a lawsuit Monday in U.S. District Court trying to force the Salt Lake City School District to approve the PRISM and Rainbow clubs as curriculum-related clubs.The suit names as the lone defendant Cynthia Seidel, assistant superintendent of the Salt Lake City School District. Seidel declined comment Tuesday, said district spokesman David Green. The district also refused to comment.
According to the suit, Cohen and Hinckley and a number of East High students asked for school approval of the Rainbow Club in January 1999 and the PRISM Club in January 2000.
They said both clubs fit under the district's policy, which allows curriculum-related student groups, because they planned to discuss issues relating to, among other things, politics and sociology "with an emphasis on issues affecting gays and lesbians."
In a letter rejecting the students' request for the Rainbow Club, Seidel responded, "the subject matter of the proposed club is sexual orientation. Given the subject matter of the club, the proposed club does not fall under any of the criteria for a curriculum-related club."
The students' application for the PRISM Club described the club's subject matter as being "about American history, government, law and sociology." Students added they were not interested in "advocating homosexuality, promoting a partisan platform or discussing sexual behavior."
In her rejection letter Seidel responded, "The organizing subject matter of the club narrows to the 'impact, experience, and contributions of gays and lesbians' in historical and current events, institutions and culture. This subject matter is not taught in the courses you cite."
The issue over allowing gay and lesbian clubs in the Salt Lake School District began in 1995 when a few East High students sought to form a gay-straight alliance as other schools had nationwide. But the question snowballed into an uproar that reached the state Legislature. In response, the Salt Lake City Board of Education in 1996 banned all clubs not related to the curriculum.
A subsequent lawsuit attempted to reinstate all clubs. It said the policy was intended to silence the alliance, which meets at school after hours under the Utah Civic Center Act.
In November 1999, U.S. District Senior Judge Bruce Jenkins ruled in favor of the district, which argued it did not violate the free speech rights of students Ivy Fox and Keysha Barnes. Attorneys for the district have previously said students were permitted to express gay views in school.
Cohen and Hinckley's lawsuit, however, says the district has consistently showed a "refusal to recognize any group for students who wish to explore together curricular subjects from a gay-positive viewpoint."
"We're just asking that the district apply the rules that itself has adopted, fairly and equally to them (gay and lesbian student clubs)," said ACLU attorney Stephen Clark, one of four parties representing Cohen and Hinckley.
The Salt Lake law firm of Snow, Christensen and Martineau as well as New York-based Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund and the National Center for Lesbian Rights are also listed as counsel for the plaintiffs.
The suit also asks for attorneys fees and "nominal" damages.