September 7, 2005
Private: California High School Students Sue to Write About Gays
High school students in Kern County, California, decided to write about the increased visibility of openly gay teenagers on campus in their high school newspaper.
But the night before the series was to go to print in April, the paper's editors said, East Bakersfield High School Principal John L. Gibson pulled the plug, citing concerns for the safety of gay students on campus.
With backing from the American Civil Liberties Union, student editors are suing Gibson, the superintendent, school trustees and the Kern High School District. The students hope a judge will compel officials to allow them to print the series this fall. Several classmates featured in the four articles are co-plaintiffs.
"We talked about certain cases before and what to do when we have censorship issues.... We just never expected it would happen to us," said Travis Mattias, 17, the paper's features editor.