Federal Laws Protecting LGBT Students
Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment (applies to public schools)
All students have a federal constitutional right to equal protection under the law.The means that schools have a duty to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students from harassment on a equal basis with all other students. If school officials failed to take action against anti-LGBT harassment because they believed that the LGBT student should have expected to be harassed, or because they believed that the LGBT student brought the harassment upon him or herself simply by being openly LGBT, or because the school was uneducated about LGBT issues or was uncomfortable addressing the situation, then the school has failed to provide equal protection to the student.
Title IX (applies to all schools that receive federal financial assistance)
Title IX of the Education Amendment Acts of 1972 prohibits discrimination based on sex in education programs and activities receiving federal financial assistance.Although Title IX does not prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, sexual harassment directed at an LGBT student is prohibited by Title IX if it is sufficiently severe and pervasive.
Title IX also prohibits gender-based harassment, including harassment on the basis of a student(s) failure to conform to stereotyped notions of masculinity and femininity.
1st Amendment, Equal Protection and Due Clauses (apples to public schools)
A transgender student(s) right to dress in accordance with his or her gender identity may also be protected under the First Amendment and the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the U.S. Constitution.The First Amendment limits the rights of school officials to censor a student(s) speech or expression.Students also have a protected liberty interest (under the Due Process Clause) in their personal appearance.In addition, a transgender student also has the right under the Equal Protection Clause to be treated similarly to other students of the same gender identity.If the school treats the student differently than it would treat other students of the same gender identity (i.e. if it imposes a dress code on a male-to-female transsexual that is different than the dress code that is applied to biological females), then the rules applying in a sex discriminatory way (i.e. it is applying the ode differently based on the student(s) biological sex.
Equal Access Act
Under the EAA, a federal law passed in 1984 that applies to all public secondary schools that receive federal funding, a secondary school that provides a meeting place during non-instructional time for any voluntary, student-initiated club is required to provide the same meeting facilities to all non-curriculum related clubs no matter what their “religious, political, philosophical, or other” beliefs or discussions may be.This law protects student's rights to form and attend gay-straight alliances (GSA) as long as there are other extracurricular clubs on campus.If a school does not permit other extracurricular clubs to meet, however, it does not have to permit a GSA.Since nearly all schools permit some student groups to meet (e.g. cheerleaders, chess, etc.), the difficult question under EAA is which groups are curriculum-related and which are not.If a GSA is found to be curriculum-related, then the EAA does not require the school to permit the GSA.If they are considered non-curricular, the school does have to allow the GSA.
(Source: National Center for Lesbian Rights Harassment and Discrimination: A Legal Overview)
State of NC's Policies Protecting LGBT Students
North Carolina State Board of Education Policy Against Bullying, Harassment, and Discrimination July 1, 2004
It is the priority of the State Board of Education to provide each and every student in North Carolina 's public schools and public charter schools with a safe, orderly, and caring learning environment that is free from harassment, bullying, and discrimination.
The Department of Public Instruction shall provide guidance and technical assistance to local boards of education to develop policies and procedures to prevent, intervene, investigate, document and report all forms of harassment, bullying, and discrimination.The State Board of Education shall require each LEA to designate an individual(s) to participate in the Department of Instruction training pertaining to anti-bullying, anti-harassment, and anti-discrimination.The individual(s) will provide leadership and training to the school district in developing policies and procedures.
Each local board of education shall develop and maintain policies and procedures to prevent, intervene, investigate, document, and report all acts of harassment, bullying, or discrimination no later than January 2005.
Each local board of education shall establish a policy prohibiting acts of retaliation for reporting violations of the anti-harassment, anti-bullying, and anti-discrimination policy as stated in the Federal Guidelines provided by the Office for Civil Rights.
Each local board of education shall notify all students, parents and employees in writing of the policies and procedures.
The local board of education shall report all verified cases of harassment, bullying, or discrimination to the State Board of Education on the Discipline Data Collection Report
More Laws and Policies
http://www.safeschoolscoalition.org/RG-law_policy_guidance.html
