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PRIDE v. White County School District

Location: Georgia
Last Update: January 10, 2007

What's at Stake

Defense of Cleveland, Georgia Gay-Straight Alliance

When students asked school officials to let them start a gay-straight alliance club in 2005 to combat rampant anti-gay harassment and bullying at at White County High School in Cleveland, Georgia, they were met with resistance and stalling tactics for several months. School administrators reluctantly agreed to let the club form late in the school year after the 勛圖眻畦 of Georgia stepped in and negotiated on the students behalf. The students named the gay-straight alliance PRIDE (Peers Rising in Diverse Education) and began meeting.

A few days later, school officials announced plans to ban all non-curricular student groups staring with the next academic year. PRIDE hasnt been permitted to meet on campus in the 2005-2006 school year, but several other clubs including Shooting Club and a school dance team continue meeting at WCHS even though they dont participate in activities relevant to the curriculum, academic credit is not provided for participation in them, and participation in them isnt required for any course.

The 勛圖眻畦s Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Project and the 勛圖眻畦 of Georgia filed a lawsuit in federal court against school officials for illegally banning the GSA and succeed in securing a preliminary injunction ordering the school to allow the GSA and all other school clubs to meet.

Status: Victory! The 勛圖眻畦 reached a settlement agreement with school officials in White County. The terms of the settlement agreement include enacting an anti-harassment policy to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students from bullying. The school has also agreed to provide their faculty with annual training sessions on how to deal with and prevent anti-gay harassment.

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