School Anti-Harassment Training Upheld

[davidinalameda]

http://www.365gay.com/Newscon06/02/021806school.htm

Students have no religious or free speech right to opt-out of school training aimed at stopping anti-gay harassment in Boyd County schools, a federal judge has ruled.

U.S. District Judge David Bunning said "there is simply no basis for an opt-out" by three students who skipped mandatory sessions at Boyd County schools because the training did not endorse any viewpoint or require a student to disavow their religious beliefs

Bunning wrote in an opinion issued late Friday that mandatory training "to address the issue of harassment at school, including harassment based upon actual or perceived sexual orientation, is rationally related to a legitimate educational goal, namely to maintain a safe environment."

The anti-gay harassment sessions were part of a settlement in 2004 of a three-year dispute between the school district and a now-defunct gay-rights group that wanted recognition as an extracurricular group.