In addition to being my birthday, today is the fifth anniversary of the settlement in Flores v. Morgan Hill Unified School District. In that case, six students sued their school district after enduring horrifying homophobic harassment from their classmates while staff, teachers and administrators did nothing — even when the students asked them for help. The settlement required the district to train all staff on how to protect students from anti-LGBT harassment. It also required middle and high schools in the district to hold yearly sessions for incoming seventh graders and freshman, focused on preventing anti-gay bullying and reminding them of the punishments for homophobic harassment.
While that was a victory for all Morgan Hill students, the larger victory was a decision made earlier in the case. For the first time, in a unanimous decision, a panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that when a school knows that anti-gay harassment is going on, it has an obligation to take meaningful steps to end it and protect students.
You wouldn’t think school staff would need a court to tell them they needed to protect their students from the kind of violations these kids suffered:
- One student was told by a classmate “I want to beat you up after class but I need a baseball bat to hit you because I don't want to get AIDS.” The teacher, who heard the threat, did nothing.
- Another student found a photograph of a bound and gagged woman with her throat slashed taped to her locker, the message “Dyke bitch. Fuck off. We’ll kill you,” scrawled across it. When she brought the death threat to the assistant principal, pleading for protection, she was told “don’t bring this trash to me anymore,” and sent back to class.
- A seventh grade boy was attacked at his bus stop, beaten so badly by classmates yelling “Faggot!” that he required medical attention. The school bus driver arrived at the scene, ignored the fight, let the attackers board, and drove off, leaving the student bleeding on the side of the road.
The decision in Flores explicitly stated what most educators already knew was their duty: you cannot know that this is going on in your school and continue to let it happen.
Since the 1990’s, when the harassment at issue in Flores took place, there has been much more awareness of homophobic and transphobic bullying and harassment in schools. YetLGBT students still report being harassed at alarming rates. A released just months ago noted that almost nine out of ten LGBT students reported being harassed at school, with one-third saying they had skipped school in the past month because they felt unsafe. Catch that last part? One out of three LGBT students have skipped a day of school in the past month out of fear for their safety. That. Ain’t. Right.
Fortunately, there are proven steps that anyone involved in a school community can take to make their school safer. Teachers can make their classrooms a “Safe Space” for LGBT students. Students can start a Gay-Straight Alliance. Administrators, staff and parents can all play a role, and you can find out how on our .
Schools can also participate in , an annual week of educational activities aimed at ending name-calling and bullying of all kinds in schools. No Name-Calling Week happens at the end of this month, January 26–30, 2009, and you can get all kinds of free resources on their .
My birthday wish is that some of you reading this will check out our resources, go to the No Name-Calling Week site, and take action to make schools in your community safer for LGBT students. That would be the best present I could get.
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Press ReleaseDec 2024
LGBTQ Rights
President Biden Must Veto Defense Bill Attacking Military Families with Transgender YouthPresident Biden Must Veto Defense Bill Attacking Military Families with Transgender Youth
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate today passed a version of the National Defense Authorization Act that would ban coverage for gender-affirming care for transgender youth whose parents are active-duty military personnel. The American Civil Liberties Union is opposing final passage of the defense bill over the inclusion of this health care ban and calling on President Joe Biden to veto the bill. Section 708 of the NDAA would prohibit insurance coverage for “medical interventions for the treatment of gender dysphoria” such as hormone therapy and puberty-suppressant medications, which Speaker Mike Johnson says would “permanently ban transgender medical treatment for minors.” The same treatments would be covered by TRICARE for any medical purpose other than treating gender dysphoria, the clinical diagnosis for the psychological distress experienced by transgender people related to their gender identity. “By passing this bill, the House and Senate are forcing thousands of active-duty service members to choose between their careers in the military and the future of their transgender children,” said Mike Zamore, national director of policy & government affairs at the ACLU. “This unconscionable and unjustifiable attack on those families stands in direct contrast to President Joe Biden’s legacy of defending the civil rights of transgender Americans — including when few in his own party showed the courage to do so. President Biden should cement his legacy by vetoing this bill and sending it back to Congress to pass without Speaker Johnson’s last minute health care ban for servicemembers’ kids.” If signed by President Biden, this health care ban would be the first new anti-LGBTQ provision enacted by Congress and signed into law by the president since the enactment of the military’s since-repealed “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy for LGBTQ servicemembers and the since-repealed federal law barring recognition of same-sex marriages known as the Defense of Marriage Act. It is unknown how many transgender youth are currently enrolled in TRICARE or how many of those enrolled are currently receiving coverage for gender-affirming care. In one 2022 analysis, 2,500 minor patients sought care for gender dysphoria through TRICARE Prime insurance at military or civilian treatment facilities in 2017, and 900 received puberty suppressants or gender-affirming hormones. Earlier this month, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a landmark case brought by the ACLU, the ACLU of Tennessee, Lambda Legal, and Akin Gump on behalf of three families and a medical provider challenging a Tennessee ban on gender-affirming hormonal therapies for transgender youth on the grounds the ban violates the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution. -
Press ReleaseDec 2024
LGBTQ Rights
Montana Court Blocks State From Refusing to Correct Sex Markers on Transgender People's Birth Certificates and Driver's LicensesMontana Court Blocks State From Refusing to Correct Sex Markers on Transgender People's Birth Certificates and Driver's Licenses
HELENA, Mont. – A Montana court has granted a preliminary injunction preventing the state of Montana from enforcing policies that bar transgender people from obtaining accurate sex designations on their birth certificates and driver’s licenses. After a prior restriction on amendments of birth certificates was struck down by the courts, in early 2024 the state of Montana enacted a new rule that categorically bars transgender Montanans from correcting the sex designation on their birth certificates. Around the same time, the Montana Department of Justice adopted a policy similarly restricting amendment of driver’s licenses. The plaintiffs challenged these policies in state district court, arguing that they violate various constitutional provisions, including the right to equal protection of the law. In a recent Montana Supreme Court decision, two justices concluded that discrimination on the basis of transgender status – as the state is engaging in here – is a form of sex discrimination that violates the Montana Constitution’s equal protection clause. The plaintiffs, two transgender women, are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Montana, and Nixon Peabody LLP. Plaintiff Jessica Kalarchik, a veteran who served in the United States Army for 31 years, said: “After finally being able to live my life openly as the woman I know myself to be, I am frustrated that my birth state, Montana, wants me to carry around a birth certificate that incorrectly lists my sex as male. I live my life openly as a woman, I am treated as a woman in my daily life, and there is no reason I should be forced to carry a birth certificate that incorrectly identifies me as male. Fortunately, the court agrees that this ridiculous policy should not be in effect.” “Once again the State of Montana chose to adopt a draconian policy that is clearly intended to marginalize transgender Montanans, only for that discriminatory action to be blocked by the courts,” said Akilah Deernose, executive director for the ACLU of Montana. “Here in Montana we treasure our right to privacy and to live our lives free from governmental intrusion. The State of Montana clearly has not learned any lessons from the past few years, where courts have repeatedly struck down unconstitutional laws targeting transgender Montanans.” “Forcing anyone to carry documents that contradict their identity unjustly violates their rights to privacy, equal treatment, and not being compelled to convey a government message about their sex that they disagree with,” said Malita Picasso, staff attorney for the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Project. “Such a policy marks transgender people for further mistreatment and discrimination, essentially requiring them to carry papers that out them as transgender any time they need to provide identity documents. Fortunately, the court has refused to allow the state of Montana to subvert the freedom of transgender Montanans to control their own identity as this case goes forward.” In granting the plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction, the court held, “[i]f the challenged state actions discriminate against transgender individuals on the basis of their transgender status, they also necessarily discriminate the basis of sex.” The state has the option of appealing the district court’s ruling to the Montana Supreme Court, but the underlying case will proceed in district court. A trial has not yet been scheduled. -
FloridaDec 2024
LGBTQ Rights
Keohane v. DixonKeohane v. Dixon
On September 30, 2024, the Florida Department of Corrections rescinded its policy regarding treatment of gender dysphoria, which allowed for hormone therapy when deemed medically necessary, as well as access to clothing and grooming standards that accord with one’s gender identity. Under this new policy, grooming and clothing accommodations have been stripped away, and hormone therapy is not permitted unless an exception is deemed constitutionally required. The ACLU brought a class action challenging the policy. -
IdahoDec 2024
LGBTQ Rights
Robinson v. LabradorRobinson v. Labrador
Two incarcerated transgender women have sued the state of Idaho alleging that HB 688, a 2024 law barring state funding for gender-affirming medical care for transgender people, denies them access to the health care their doctors have prescribed for them and is a violation of their Eighth Amendment right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment. They represent a class of all incarcerated folks within the state of Idaho who face the loss of hormone therapy due to HB 668.