Massey v. Banning Unified School District
California Victory!

NCLR and Martha Matthews of the ACLU of Southern California represented Ashly Massey, a lesbian student who alleged that she was barred from gym class after her gym teacher learned of her sexual orientation.

In December 2002, Ashly filed suit in federal court against the district as well as individual school officials, alleging violation of the Equal Protection Clause, as well as various state claims including violation of California Student Safety and Violence Prevention Act of 2000 (AB 537).

On March 31, 2003, federal district judge Audrey Collins held that the defendants were not entitled to qualified immunity, holding that "the law has been clearly established for several years that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation gives rise to an Equal Protection claim."

On November 18, 2003, Ashly and the school district reached a mutually agreed upon settlement. Under the settlement, the district will put in place an anti-discrimination policy that includes sexual orientation. The district will also provide training for all district teachers and other school staff on issues of anti-discrimination and diversity, as well as training for students at all grade levels -- k-12 -- with respect to diversity. The district also agreed to pay Ashly $45,000.

The complaint and the court's decision can be downloaded at: http://www.nclrights.org/cases/massey.htm
http://www.nclrights.org/ca ses/massey.htm.