Gay NY teen's harassment suit gets federal notice

[babylonsister]

Gay NY teen's harassment suit gets federal notice
By MICHAEL HILL, Associated Press


The bullying by classmates and taunts of "homo" only got worse after Jacob began dyeing his hair and wearing eyeliner in eighth grade. One student scrawled "I hope you die" on his shoe, he said; another drew a pocket knife on him.

Jacob's grades dropped, and he missed school from fear. His father tried repeatedly to get school officials in their working-class village in upstate New York to help protect his son from harassment. The response by the Mohawk Central School District, according to a federal lawsuit, was to do "virtually nothing."

"Everything was bad," Jacob -- who is identified as "J.L." in the lawsuit and didn't want to draw attention to his new school by having his last name used in this story -- said this week. "I hyperventilated when I left the school ... and I didn't want to come back the next day, or ever."

The 15-year-old might soon get a measure of satisfaction. The lawsuit filed by Jacob and his father against the school district with the New York Civil Liberties Union could be close to settlement, according to both sides.

The negotiations come as the U.S. Department of Justice seeks to intervene in the case, citing the "important issues" it raises in enforcing federal civil rights laws.

"There is a growing recognition across the country that schools need to take harassment based on gender expression and homosexuality seriously," said NYCLU attorney Corey Stoughton. "If there is a settlement in this case, that's an affirmation of that principle."

The NYCLU believes this is the first time in a decade that justice officials have sought to become involved in a case arguing that federal protections against sexual discrimination apply to gender expression -- such as when a boy does not act or look stereotypically male. Stoughton said that while harassment based on gender nonconformity is widespread, there have been only a handful of legal cases like this nationwide.

more...

http://www.salon.com/wires/us/2010/02/04/D9DLEJMO0_us_gay_teen_harassment/index.html

[tonysam]

1. The plaintiff will get a big, fat settlement

It's all about collecting an insurance payout from a school district regardless of the merits. Not saying there is no merit, but it is all about collecting from an insurance company.

This is almost identical to Derek Henkle's case out in Reno from the 1990s, where his lawyers settled on his behalf for $451,000, some five years after the suit was filed. The reason, though, it was settled instead of going to trial was that the school district, good ol' Washoe County School District, HAD to settle it, and not because of the merits. Its insurance company had gone bankrupt, and the supplemental insurance company refused to pay attorneys' fees. The district estimated attorneys' fees to have run between $2-3 MILLION (and perhaps more, as I am remembering this off the top of my head) if the case had run its course.

It is VERY expensive for these cases to go to trial, which is why they rarely do.

[babylonsister]

2. Maybe if more people went to trial, harrassment wouldn't be

acceptable.