THE FAMILY FOUNDATION

THE BOYD COUNTY School Board has been in hot water ever since members formally recognized the Gay Straight Alliance student club in October of 2002, but the controversy heightened when the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) filed a lawsuit on behalf of parents against the ACLU-inspired plan to which the Board had acquiesced in February of 2004.

In that legal settlement with the ACLU, the School Board agreed to mandatory video and tolerance training. At the center of the controversy is the one-hour training video, which covers sexual orientation, gender identity and anti-harassment issues. The video features Boyd County school employees and others who claim that homosexuality is an unchangeable characteristic.

Proponents of the ADF suit say there are three areas that the ACLU agreement violates: First, parental rights are violated by the mandatory attendance to gay tolerance and anti-harassment training which is required for middle and high school students. Second, the students’ free speech rights are infringed by the agreement’s prohibition of speaking out against homosexuality. And third, the information contained in the training maintains that homosexuality is inborn and unchangeable — a totally non-scientific assertion that is universally disputed by those outside of pro-gay advocacy.

"This mandatory ‘diversity training’ hardly teaches diversity. It not only puts a gag on students who disagree with homosexual behavior, it also actively attempts to change their moral beliefs," said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Kevin Theriot. "The Supreme Court is clear on this matter: Americans have an absolute right to their beliefs. This training obviously crosses that constitutional line."

Tim York, president of Defenders Voice — a local traditional values organization — and president of the Boyd County Ministerial Alliance thinks that much of the video is in poor taste. "About 20 percent of it was pure homosexual agenda," York said.

York helped to establish Defenders Voice in order to better protect parental rights and stand up against what he sees as the ACLU’s agenda to promote homosexuality in Boyd County schools. "Organizations like the ACLU should not be allowed to tell parents what their children must learn," York said.

According to the ACLU, the school district agreed to these terms in the settlement:

· Treat the Gay Straight Alliance no differently from other clubs

· Conduct mandatory annual training sessions on all types of harassment (including a special component on anti-gay harassment)

· Revise all student activity policies to treat members of all clubs equally

The ADF lawsuit emphasizes what the ACLU *did not* elevate in their press release about the settlement — the fact that students are not allowed to speak about their disagreement to homosexuality.

James Esseks, litigation director for the ACLU’s Lesbian and Gay Rights Project believes that every student should participate in the training as agreed upon by the two sides. "The schools have great latitude in what they want to teach, including what’s in training programs, and the training is now part of the school curriculum," Esseks said. "Parents don’t get to say I don’t want you to teach evolution or this, that or whatever else. If parents don’t like it they can home school, they can go to a private school, they can go to a religious school."

That has York concerned because he does not think the ACLU should control the public school system. He believes parents should be able to send their children to public schools without homosexuality pushed upon them. "Where are the parental rights in this whole thing?" York questioned.

The ACLU has threatened to take the school system to court again if it can’t find a way to force all students to attend the mandatory training. The first "tolerance" workshop was held on Nov. 8, 2004 where only 502 of 971 high school students attended. One hundred-five of 730 middle school students also refused to take the training.

The training is particularly questionable when considering not only the U.S. Constitution, but also the Kentucky Constitution, which contains significant protections for the rights of parents with respect to the public school system. According to Section Five regarding Right of Religious Freedom, the state Constitution reads, ". . . nor shall any man be compelled to send his child to any school to which he may be conscientiously opposed; . . . No human authority shall, in any case whatever, control or interfere with the rights of conscience."

Contrary to what seems constitutionally obvious, the school system currently has four "compliance coordinators" to ensure students participate in the training and has agreed with the ACLU to require the "tolerance" workshops through the 2006-2007 school year.

On March 16, School Superintendent Bill Capehart told the *Ashland Daily Independent* that it is not true that every student must attend the diversity training. "There are various avenues for being excused," Capehart said. But York contends that the schools never provided opt-out forms for students and some students were threatened retribution if they failed to attend. The school board was asked to adopt an opt-out policy for parents who objected to the "tolerance" training for their children, but refused.

Capehart denies York’s assertions and publicly refuted the charges in the lawsuit filed by ADF. Capehart said the district is not attempting to change students’ religious beliefs. "[The charge is] emphatically wrong. It has never been our intention to change the beliefs of any individual," he said.

Theriot disagrees. "He’s got it wrong," Theriot said. "If you watch the video, it clearly attempts to change students’ beliefs about the homosexual lifestyle… and their free speech rights are denied." In its official response to the lawsuit, the school district admitted students are prohibited from telling another student homosexuality is wrong. But in a contradictory statement, Capehart told the *Daily Independent* that their policy should have been interpreted as prohibiting aggressive or threatening statements toward homosexuals. "Students aren’t prohibited from saying that homosexuality is wrong, if they do it in a civil manner," he said. Critics say that’s too nebulous.

Theriot said that the school district’s settlement with the ACLU was a mistake on several points. Parents who object to the tolerance training aren’t recognized to have a right to opt-out their children. And middle and high school student’s free speech rights are denied. "Students are required to undergo this training without expressing any disagreement," Theriot said. "This effectively forces the students to speak in agreement with the School District’s view that homosexuality is a safe and healthy lifestyle that cannot be changed."

Boyd County High School teacher Cari Rucker believes that one can oppose homosexuality and yet still respect the individual. "Discrimination and disagreement aren’t the same, but some supporters of the gay-straight alliance and the ACLU would like us to believe that if we don’t agree with their cause, we’re discriminating against them. This is not true," Rucker said in a letter to the paper. "I’m weary of being labeled as prejudiced or discriminatory simply for having a different point of view."

*A Timeline*

*March 2002* 30 students petition Boyd County High School to form the Gay Straight Alliance.

*October 2002* High School Site-Based Council approves the Gay Straight Alliance.

*December 2002* School Board suspends all school clubs (including Gay Straight Alliance).

*January 2003* ACLU sues Boyd County School Board in U.S. District Court.

*February 2004* ACLU forces settlement with School Board. Agreement stipulates "tolerance training," "equal treatment," etc.

*August 2004* Gay Straight Alliance dissolves itself.

*November 2004* Mandatory "tolerance training" takes place in middle and high schools.

*February 2005* Alliance Defense Fund intervenes.
Key Family Foundation Contacts: Kent Ostrander , Executive Director Martin Cothran , Senior Associate Policy Analyst

THE BOYD COUNTY School Board has been in hot water ever since members formally recognized the Gay Straight Alliance student club in October of 2002, but the controversy heightened when the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) filed a lawsuit on behalf of parents against the ACLU-inspired plan to which the Board had acquiesced in February of 2004.

In that legal settlement with the ACLU, the School Board agreed to mandatory video and tolerance training. At the center of the controversy is the one-hour training video, which covers sexual orientation, gender identity and anti-harassment issues. The video features Boyd County school employees and others who claim that homosexuality is an unchangeable characteristic.

Proponents of the ADF suit say there are three areas that the ACLU agreement violates: First, parental rights are violated by the mandatory attendance to gay tolerance and anti-harassment training which is required for middle and high school students. Second, the students’ free speech rights are infringed by the agreement’s prohibition of speaking out against homosexuality. And third, the information contained in the training maintains that homosexuality is inborn and unchangeable — a totally non-scientific assertion that is universally disputed by those outside of pro-gay advocacy.

"This mandatory ‘diversity training’ hardly teaches diversity. It not only puts a gag on students who disagree with homosexual behavior, it also actively attempts to change their moral beliefs," said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Kevin Theriot. "The Supreme Court is clear on this matter: Americans have an absolute right to their beliefs. This training obviously crosses that constitutional line."

Tim York, president of Defenders Voice — a local traditional values organization — and president of the Boyd County Ministerial Alliance thinks that much of the video is in poor taste. "About 20 percent of it was pure homosexual agenda," York said.

York helped to establish Defenders Voice in order to better protect parental rights and stand up against what he sees as the ACLU’s agenda to promote homosexuality in Boyd County schools. "Organizations like the ACLU should not be allowed to tell parents what their children must learn," York said.

According to the ACLU, the school district agreed to these terms in the settlement:

· Treat the Gay Straight Alliance no differently from other clubs

· Conduct mandatory annual training sessions on all types of harassment (including a special component on anti-gay harassment)

· Revise all student activity policies to treat members of all clubs equally

The ADF lawsuit emphasizes what the ACLU did not elevate in their press release about the settlement — the fact that students are not allowed to speak about their disagreement to homosexuality.

James Esseks, litigation director for the ACLU’s Lesbian and Gay Rights Project believes that every student should participate in the training as agreed upon by the two sides. "The schools have great latitude in what they want to teach, including what’s in training programs, and the training is now part of the school curriculum," Esseks said. "Parents don’t get to say I don’t want you to teach evolution or this, that or whatever else. If parents don’t like it they can home school, they can go to a private school, they can go to a religious school."

That has York concerned because he does not think the ACLU should control the public school system. He believes parents should be able to send their children to public schools without homosexuality pushed upon them. "Where are the parental rights in this whole thing?" York questioned.

The ACLU has threatened to take the school system to court again if it can’t find a way to force all students to attend the mandatory training. The first "tolerance" workshop was held on Nov. 8, 2004 where only 502 of 971 high school students attended. One hundred-five of 730 middle school students also refused to take the training.

The training is particularly questionable when considering not only the U.S. Constitution, but also the Kentucky Constitution, which contains significant protections for the rights of parents with respect to the public school system. According to Section Five regarding Right of Religious Freedom, the state Constitution reads, ". . . nor shall any man be compelled to send his child to any school to which he may be conscientiously opposed; . . . No human authority shall, in any case whatever, control or interfere with the rights of conscience."

Contrary to what seems constitutionally obvious, the school system currently has four "compliance coordinators" to ensure students participate in the training and has agreed with the ACLU to require the "tolerance" workshops through the 2006-2007 school year.

On March 16, School Superintendent Bill Capehart told the Ashland Daily Independent that it is not true that every student must attend the diversity training. "There are various avenues for being excused," Capehart said. But York contends that the schools never provided opt-out forms for students and some students were threatened retribution if they failed to attend. The school board was asked to adopt an opt-out policy for parents who objected to the "tolerance" training for their children, but refused.

Capehart denies York’s assertions and publicly refuted the charges in the lawsuit filed by ADF. Capehart said the district is not attempting to change students’ religious beliefs. "[The charge is] emphatically wrong. It has never been our intention to change the beliefs of any individual," he said.

Theriot disagrees. "He’s got it wrong," Theriot said. "If you watch the video, it clearly attempts to change students’ beliefs about the homosexual lifestyle… and their free speech rights are denied." In its official response to the lawsuit, the school district admitted students are prohibited from telling another student homosexuality is wrong. But in a contradictory statement, Capehart told the Daily Independent that their policy should have been interpreted as prohibiting aggressive or threatening statements toward homosexuals. "Students aren’t prohibited from saying that homosexuality is wrong, if they do it in a civil manner," he said. Critics say that’s too nebulous.

Theriot said that the school district’s settlement with the ACLU was a mistake on several points. Parents who object to the tolerance training aren’t recognized to have a right to opt-out their children. And middle and high school student’s free speech rights are denied. "Students are required to undergo this training without expressing any disagreement," Theriot said. "This effectively forces the students to speak in agreement with the School District’s view that homosexuality is a safe and healthy lifestyle that cannot be changed."

Boyd County High School teacher Cari Rucker believes that one can oppose homosexuality and yet still respect the individual. "Discrimination and disagreement aren’t the same, but some supporters of the gay-straight alliance and the ACLU would like us to believe that if we don’t agree with their cause, we’re discriminating against them. This is not true," Rucker said in a letter to the paper. "I’m weary of being labeled as prejudiced or discriminatory simply for having a different point of view."

A Timeline

March 2002 30 students petition Boyd County High School to form the Gay Straight Alliance.

October 2002 High School Site-Based Council approves the Gay Straight Alliance.

December 2002 School Board suspends all school clubs (including Gay Straight Alliance).

January 2003 ACLU sues Boyd County School Board in U.S. District Court.

February 2004 ACLU forces settlement with School Board. Agreement stipulates "tolerance training," "equal treatment," etc.

August 2004 Gay Straight Alliance dissolves itself.

November 2004 Mandatory "tolerance training" takes place in middle and high schools.

February 2005 Alliance Defense Fund intervenes.