Harassment Lawyer Orange Sexual
Q: As I have mentioned on other occassions, under Title IX gay and
lesbian students are NOT protected from discrimination. However, they are
protected against SEXUAL HARASSMENT and SEX DISCRIMINATION. Frequently
harassment of gay and lesbians students is SEXUAL in nature, by word or act.
For example; "hey faggot you want to suck my c**k?" or a simulated sex act.
Obviously these have a sexual connotation. See hotline for US ED - Office of
Civil Rights at the end of this message followed by an attorney's comment on
this.
Excerpts?
A: There is an increasing awareness among school officials of the frequency and severity of harassment of students who are, or are perceived to be, gay or lesbian. Schools should consider whether there is a need to include harassment based expressly on sexual orientation in their anti-harassment programs. Harassment on the basis of sexual orientation may violate state discrimination laws or the U.S. Constitution. As described in Harassment Based on Sexual Orientation, a recent holding of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, Nabozny v. Podlesny, 92 F.3d 446 (7th Cir. 1996), allowed a lawsuit for damages under the United States Constitution against a school district where school officials allegedly failed to protect a gay student from harassment to the same extent as other students because of his sex and sexual orientation. Of course, gay and lesbian students can also be targets of sexual harassment. See Sexual Harassment of Gay and Lesbian Students for a discussion of sexual harassment of gay and lesbian students. See also Part II of this Guide, Addressing Hate Crime, for a discussion of state and federal criminal laws that may be relevant to certain kinds of bias motivated incidents. HARASSMENT BASED ON SEXUAL ORIENTATION. Some state and local laws may prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Also, under certain circumstances, courts have permitted a remedy for harassment on the basis of sexual orientation under other federal legal authority. For example, a 1996 federal court of appeals case held that a gay student could recover for discrimination based on both sex and sexual orientation under the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution in a case in which school district officials allegedly failed to protect the student