Press Release

(ORANGE, CALIFORNIA, September 7, 2000) — In a win-win situation for all, the Orange Unified School District has taken final steps to settle a federal lawsuit brought by the Gay-Straight Alliance of El Modena High School and its founder, student Anthony Colín. The suit was filed to secure equal treatment for the club as required by the federal Equal Access Act. The OUSD Board approved several new rules for all student clubs tonight; the settlement agreement with the GSA was contingent on Board adoption of those new rules.

(ORANGE, California, September 6, 2000) – Members of the Gay-Straight Alliance Club of El Modena High School and the Orange Unified School District have agreed to a settlement ending the students’ lawsuit against the school district and securing equal treatment for their club.

(NEW YORK, August 29, 2000) — Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund Tuesday praised continuing efforts by charities, corporations, government entities, parents, and Scouts themselves to take a stand against the Boy Scouts of America’s discriminatory ban on gay youth and adult members.

(NEW YORK) — Hearing “hey faggot” shouted across classrooms and hallways. Being punched in the face on school grounds. The principal responding only, “Boys will be boys. If you’re going to be gay, that’s what you can expect.”Many students heading back to school this fall have more to worry about than homework and team tryouts.

(LOS ANGELES, August 10, 2000) — An award-winning high school teacher, harassed and denied a promotion for being a lesbian, can sue her Southern California school district for anti-gay job discrimination, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund said Thursday, after the California Supreme Court refused to step in to bar the case.

The California Supreme Court unanimously rejected the school district’s attempt to have the case dismissed, said Lambda, which represents teacher Dawn Murray.

(NEW YORK, August 7, 2000) — Hawaii’s most prominent civil rights attorney Dan Foley, co-counsel in the landmark case, Baehr v. Anderson, which sparked the ongoing national dialogue about the freedom to marry for same-sex couples, has been named a judge to the state’s Intermediate Court of Appeals, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund said Monday.

(NEW YORK, July 19, 2000) — Barely one month after the Boy Scouts of America established its right to discriminate against gay members, long-time Scouts supporters are questioning their continued involvement with the organization, and the special government treatment long accorded the youth group increasingly is coming under close scrutiny.

(NEW YORK, July 18, 2000) — Bolstering the battle against discrimination and harassment on campus, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund Tuesday announced a new publication to help secure school policies that ban bias based on sexual orientation, protecting students plus faculty, administrators and other employees.

(ATLANTA, July 7, 2000) —Defying the national trend overturning laws that criminalize private consensual sex between adults, the Louisiana Supreme Court has upheld the state’s “crime against nature” statute that carries penalties of up to five years in prison, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund said.

(NEW YORK, June 30, 2000) — As a groundbreaking new law takes effect this weekend, the state of Vermont sets a historic benchmark for the recognition of lesbian and gay families, extending to same-sex couples nearly all the rights, protections, and obligations of marriage, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund said Friday.