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The Youth & Schools program strives to make public schools safe and bias-free, defending free expression in public schools and working to help students establish gay-straight alliance clubs.	> California School Apologizes For Illegally Banning Sixth Grader’s Presentation On Harvey Milk > Tennessee Schools End Censorship Of Gay Educational Web Sites After ACLU Lawsuit > Prom Resources for LGBT Students

California School Apologizes For Illegally Banning Sixth Grader’s Presentation On Harvey Milk (06/09/2009)
RAMONA, CA – A California school has apologized to a sixth grader for illegally censoring her classroom presentation about Harvey Milk last month, and school officials promise they won't engage in unconstitutional restriction of similar free speech in the future. The apology comes after the American Civil Liberties Union sent a letter on May 30 to the Ramona Unified School District about its violation of the student’s free speech rights when it refused to allow her to give the presentation in class. Wrongly citing a school policy on sex education, the school had improperly required classmates to get parental permission to see the presentation during a lunch recess.

Tennessee Schools End Censorship Of Gay Educational Web Sites After ACLU Lawsuit (06/04/2009)
NASHVILLE, TN – Dozens of Tennessee schools have restored access to online information about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues, just over two weeks after the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit against two Tennessee school districts for unconstitutionally blocking student access to such sites. The company that provides Internet filtering software to as many as 107 Tennessee school districts has adjusted the software to allow access to a variety of educational and political LGBT Web sites that were blocked before the lawsuit was filed.

California School Bans Sixth Grader’s Presentation on Harvey Milk (05/20/2009)
RAMONA, CA – Wrongly citing a school policy on sex education, a California school illegally censored a sixth grader’s classroom presentation about Harvey Milk earlier this month. According to a demand letter sent by the American Civil Liberties Union to the Ramona Unified School District today, the school violated Natalie Jones’s free speech rights when it refused to allow her to give the presentation in class. Instead, the school improperly required classmates to get parental permission to see the presentation during a lunch recess.

ACLU Sues To Stop Tennessee Schools From Censoring Gay Educational Web Sites (05/19/2009)
NASHVILLE, TN – The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Tennessee sued two Tennessee school districts in federal court today, charging the schools are unconstitutionally blocking students from accessing online information about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues. Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools, Knox County Schools and as many as 105 other school districts in Tennessee use Internet filtering software to block Web sites containing pro-LGBT speech, but not Web sites touting so-called "reparative therapy" and "ex-gay" ministries. The "LGBT" filter is not used to block sites containing pornography, which are filtered under a different category, but it does block the sites of many well-known LGBT organizations including Parents, Families, And Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), the Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network (GLSEN) and Human Rights Campaign (HRC).

High School Student Takes On Anti-Gay Harassment—And Wins (05/18/2009)
VALLEJO, CA – The American Civil Liberties Union announced today that it has reached a settlement agreement with the Vallejo City Unified School District on behalf of a high school student who faced anti-gay harassment and discrimination from teachers and school staff and was required to participate in a school-sponsored “counseling” group designed to discourage students from being lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. The settlement is designed to combat harassment and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity at all the district’s schools, and includes district-wide anti-harassment training for students and staff.

Know Your Rights! - Students Wallet Card (06/15/2007)
You have the right to be yourself. This wallet card provides LGBT students with the basics – outlining students’ legal rights in public schools.
> Order online!

Making Schools Safe Training Manual (01/31/2006)
This is an abridged version. Contact us for copies of the full manual.

Ask Sybil Liberty About Your Right to Equality in Education (12/31/1997)
ACLU's resident expert, Sybil Liberty, answers common questions about students' rights from a student point of view.

Ramona, CA Harvey Milk Censorship - Demand Letter (05/20/2009)

Franks v. Metropolitan Board of Public Education - Complaint (05/19/2009)

Franks v. Metropolitan Board of Public Education - Response Letter, May 6, 2009 (05/06/2009)
Second response letter from Metropolitan Board of Public Education.

Franks v. Metropolitan Board of Public Education - Response Letter, April 28, 2009 (04/28/2009)
First response letter from Metropolitan Board of Public Education.

Franks v. Metropolitan Board of Public Education - Demand Letter (04/15/2009)

Ramona, CA Harvey Milk Censorship - School Explanation Letter to Parents (06/04/2009)

Sign-on Letter to Omnibus Appropriations Bill Conferees Urging No New Funding to Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Programs Under the Special Projects of Regional and National Significance (SPRANS) Grant Program funded through the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations bill (02/05/2003)

Ramona CA, Harvey Milk Censorship - School Apology Letter (06/04/2009)

Ramona, CA Harvey Milk Censorship - Student's Presentation (05/20/2009)
Natalie Jones's presentation on Harvey Milk, which was censored by her Ramona, CA school.

Ramona, CA Harvey Milk Censorship - School Policy (05/20/2009)
Policy on sex education from Ramona, CA school that censored a student's school project on Harvey Milk.

Ramona, CA Harvey Milk Censorship - School's Letter to Parents (04/28/2009)
Letter Ramona USD sent to parents, requiring them to opt-in before their students could see a peer's presentation on Harvey Milk.

Prom Resources for LGBT Students (04/24/2009)

Know Your Rights! (PDF version) (02/09/2007)

Know Your Rights! A Quick Guide for LGBT High School Students (02/09/2007)

Case background: Flores v. Morgan Hill Unified School District (01/06/2004)

Settlement Fact Sheet: Flores v. Morgan Hill Unified School District (01/06/2004)

Ramona, CA Harvey Milk Censorship - Case Profile (05/20/2009)

Franks v. Metropolitan Board of Public Education - Case Profile (04/13/2009)

Outing at Hollis F. Price Middle College High School - Case Profile (04/29/2008)

Gillman v. Holmes County School District - Case Profile (01/31/2008)

Gillman v. Holmes County School District - Case Profile (01/31/2008)