A suburban San Jose school district agreed to pay $1.1 million to settle a lawsuit brought by six gay students who said they were subjected to beatings, death threats and other harassment. The Morgan Hill district, which did not admit wrongdoing in the settlement, also agreed to hold training sessions for students and teachers to discourage anti-gay harassment.
Although I'm against the epidemic of frivolous lawsuits that's overtaken the country, if what these students charge was done to them is true, then the school district deserves to be held accountable. While I'd prefer real school choice so that children can escape the clutches of uncaring educrats who can't or won't ensure their safety, as long as government schools use our tax dollars we should demand that gay kids not be treated as expendable.
The Right to Fire
Hewlett-Packard did not violate the rights of a devout Christian employee when it fired him for posting Biblical scriptures on his cubicle that were critical of homosexuality, the San Francisco-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit has ruled.
Those who believe that private (or shareholder-owned) companies
should have the right to hire or fire at will should see nothing
wrong with HP giving the sack to a homophobe. But those who believe
companies should not be able to fire (or not hire) on the basis of
an employee or applicant's personal beliefs may have to contort
themselves to explain why some expressions of religious conviction
are more equal than others.