The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Florida has filed a lawsuit against the Lake County School Board for not giving the green light to establish a Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) club at Carver Middle School.
The civil rights group said the lawsuit is necessary because of the repeated efforts by the School Board to prevent Bayli Silberstein, 14, from establishing the GSA club at the school. The last straw came when the School Board voted last week to table a proposed middle school club policy, throwing up a final administrative barrier for the club and effectively continuing its ban on the GSA.
“I’m really frustrated that we’ve reached this point, but we can’t wait any longer,” said Silberstein in a statement. “The bullying at my school is really bad, and I don’t want to have another school year go by without kids feeling like there’s a safe place where they can be themselves. But the school board keeps trying to stop us.”
According to the ACLU, GSAs are student organizations made up of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students and their straight allies that advocate for an end to bullying, harassment, and discrimination against all students. LGBT students in schools with a GSA are significantly less likely to experience victimization related to their sexual orientation and gender expression, and less likely to feel unsafe because of their sexual orientation than students without a GSA, the civil rights group added.
In January, the ACLU of Florida sent a letter to the School Board explaining the legal right of the club to form as well as the benefits that a GSA would have for all students.
The school board then proposed a ban on all non-academic clubs at middle schools to stop the GSA, but major blow back from parents and concerned citizens forced the school board to change course. Instead a proposal to create a middle school club policy that would allow all clubs, including the GSA, to be treated the same, was put forward by the School Board. However, despite this move, last week the school board voted 4-1 to table the proposal and not address the issue, effectively leaving the ban on the GSA in place.
“The school board has had ample time and every opportunity to follow the law, and they’ve finally demonstrated that they just aren’t interested,” stated Daniel Tilley, staff attorney for the ACLU of Florida. “We gave the school board the benefit of the doubt that, despite the delays, they were acting in good faith to create a policy that would let Bayli and her friends establish their club to start making their school safer and more welcoming. Bayli’s patience has been rewarded with the school board pulling the rug out from under her at the last minute.”
A copy of the complaint filed today in the United States District Court, Middle District of Florida is available here: http://aclufl.org/resources/silberstein-v-school-board-of-lake-county-complaint/
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