Young Activist Victory!

Two Florida high school students, Hannah Page and Jacob Brock, won a victory in a lawsuit against their school district this week. Hannah, a rising sophomore, and Jacob, a rising senior, sued their school district in February for telling them that their school's Gay-Straight Alliance couldn't meet on school property unless it changed it's name to exclude the word "gay". The school district claimed that the club could be disruptive to the school, and that having a Gay-Straight Alliance would violate the district's abstinence-only education.

I think Hannah put it best when she said, "We just want the club so that straight and gay kids can get together to talk about harassment and discrimination against gay kids in an open environment. The school is discriminating against us and that's exactly the kind of thing we want to talk about and prevent." The judge agreed.

There is a lot to comment on in this case: a public school discriminating against students based on sexual orientation or perceived sexual orientation; the need to even have a "safe space" for gay and lesbian students, when the whole school/community should be safe; yet another shortcoming of abstinence-only education..

But rather than getting caught up in all the problems surrounding this school district, I want to take this space to note how incredibly brave it was for the two students - Hannah and Jacob - to initiate this lawsuit. The legal system is a pretty intimidating thing. Taking action against a school policy is pretty scary. Coming out in high school is downright terrifying. These two students have now done all three - and they won. I'm completely inspired by the bravery of these two students, and I hope that they continue to fight for civil rights.


Note - Hannah has also sued the district because her middle school wouldn't allow her to start a GSA there, so be sure to stay tuned to this blog and to the news as things unfold!

Photo courtesy Fire.Man at flickr.com