GAY ISSUES IN SCHOOL | Protecting pupils

July 1996: A federal appellate court rules that public schools have a constitutional obligation to prevent the abuse of gay pupils.
November 1996: A federal jury awards Wisconsin youth Jamie Nabozny nearly $1 million, finding middle and high school principals failed to protect him from verbal and physical abuse.
ACCESS FOR CLUBS
February 1996: The Salt Lake City school board bans all extracurricular clubs rather than allow a gay-straight club access to a high school.
November 1999: A federal district court rules that the Salt Lake City school board violated federal law that schools cannot discriminate against pupil groups.
March 3: A federal judge decides that the Lubbock Independent School District can deny meeting space for the Lubbock High School Gay Straight Alliance.
SPECIAL SCHOOLS/EVENTS
September 2003: Harvey Milk High School in New York opens as a public high school for gay, lesbian and transgender youth. The school had operated since 1984 as a unit of a social service agency.
March: A central Texas school district in Lago Vista lifted a ban on same-sex prom dates after the liberal People for the American Way threatened to sue.
STUDENT ATHLETICS
November 2003: U.S. District Court orders the school district in Banning, Calif., to institute sensitivity training and pay $45,000 to Ashly Massey for holding her out of gym class because she is a lesbian.
Source: Dallas Morning News research