A former student is suing his Memphis, Tennessee Catholic high school under Title IX for refusing to let him take a male date to his homecoming dance, arguing it unlawfully discriminated against him on the basis of his sexual orientation.
Lance Sanderson, 19, asked permission to bring a male date to an upcoming dance during the end of his junior year at Christian Brothers High School (CBHS), an all-boys private school. He was told via email by his principal that he “really struggle[d]” with allowing Sanderson to bring a boy to the dance. When Sanderson posted the email to Twitter, he was reprimanded and told he could no longer be a school photographer, as he had been, even though he was not accused of violating any rules.
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The school had no rules against bringing another male to a dance. Their code of conduct still states, “All CBHS students should feel safe, secure and accepted regardless of color, race, background, appearance, popularity, athletic ability, intelligence, personality, sexual orientation, religion or nationality.”
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Sanderson felt anything but safe, secure and accepted.
He put up a petition on Change.org, which received support from tens of thousands of people, but it was ultimately not successful in changing the school’s mind.
In the petition, Sanderson states that he had been out at his school since freshman year and that when he first brought up the idea of bringing a same-sex date to homecoming a school official told him they didn’t discriminate.
“But when that school official left over the summer, I was met with harsh opposition by my school,” he wrote. “One administrator told me that even though some people interpreted Pope Francis’s teachings on the issue as meaning they should support same-sex couples, these people are, ‘not the authority to which Christian Brothers High School is accountable.'”
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In the days leading up to the dance, the school began to broadcast daily messages over the intercom that students were not allowed to bring boys from other schools as dates.
The lawsuit states that this left Sanderson feeling “bullied by both the school administration and by some of the students.”
“As a private school, CBHS held itself out to be nondiscriminatory with regard to sexual orientation,” Sanderson’s attorney, Manis, told NBC. “In our eyes, it seems very clear those were hollow words…They were not interested in treating [Sanderson] the same as other students.”
He chose not to attend the dance, and CBHS sent him home for a “cooling off” period of indeterminate length. When he returned a week later, he says he felt unwelcome.
“Everyone thought I had been expelled,” Sanderson said. “It was pretty clear that I wasn’t welcome on campus…I was sure it wasn’t going to be good for me to be there for the rest of the year.”
“I was very active at school,” he said. “It was a big part of my life, and it was all of a sudden gone. I was alone 24/7.”
Sanderson and the school worked out an agreement where he would finish his senior year with online classes and at-home study. He received his diploma that spring but did not attend the graduation ceremony.
With his lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Circuit Court, Sanderson is seeking up to $1 million from CBHS on claims including breach of contract, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent training and a violation under Title IX of the 1972 Education Amendments.
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“We have confirmation that CBHS receives federal funding and also potentially state funding for certain programs at the school,” Howard Manis, one of Sanderson’s lawyers, said. “That makes them responsible for following the letter of the law under Title IX.”
While Title IX does not specifically include LGBTQ persons in its language concerning protection against sex discrimination in federally funded education programs and activities, recent court rulings have set precedent that they are to be protected under the law.
This includes a ruling by a federal judge in California who sided with two lesbians who sued Pepperdine, a private Christian university.
“I hope they don’t do this to anyone else in the future,” Sanderson, who now attends DePaul University, said of CBHS, “and that other schools that try to abide by similar philosophies don’t do this to their students. I really don’t want anyone else to go through what I went through this year.”
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MacAdvisor
There isn’t any Title IX issue here, as the school is a private high school that does not likely accept Federal funds. That is distinctly different from a private college that does take Federal money. This is, instead, a contract dispute. The school plainly stated in their rules they did not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation and then proceeded to do so. The school breached the contract created by the school rules.
Brian
The Catholic Church is determined to promote heterosexuality.
Jeff Taylor
@MacAdvisor: “We have confirmation that CBHS receives federal funding and also potentially state funding for certain programs at the school,” Howard Manis, one of Sanderson’s lawyers, said.
Lindoro Almaviva
Do people here not read the articles before they comment? I mean, it would seem basic: read the damn thing before you open your pie hole and look like a fool, but alas, seems not.
Daniel-Reader
If the handbook says that, why wouldn’t you sue for false advertising?
Jack Meoff
I hope he wins. It will send a strong message to all those religious bigots out there.
DMRX
@MacAdvisor: It would be nice if you would bother to read the article before commenting.
Billy Budd
One million is not enough, he must break their bank. He must destroy them completely.
DCguy
@MacAdvisor:
What a shock a defender of anti-lgbt bigotry pretends that private schools don’t receive public funds when nearly all do.
Nice try though.
DCFarmboy
While I think there are breach of contract issues, MacAdvisor is correct. Private high schools don’t receive any Title IX funding. The young man may not have a very good lawyer, or the lawyer might just be throwing everything out he can think of.
Juanjo
@DCFarmboy: Well Farmboy, go back and read the article. As already pointed out, the attorney states that they determined the school DID receive federal funding. In fact it is not unusual at all for private schools to accept federal funds for a variety of reasons. I have been an attorney for over 30 years and for an attorney to file a lawsuit alleging a violation of Title IX without first determining whether there was a basis for such an allegation would be awfully sloppy.
The breach of contract issue is interesting and an additional basis. It appears that the school allows students to invite a date if the person is also a student enrolled at the high school OR if the student is female, she may be enrolled at a different high school. However male students from other high schools are not allowed to attend dances at the school. So in addition to the sexual orientation issue there is also a gender discrimination issue.
Charlie in Charge
A courageous move. I wish him much luck in his lawsuit, so many schools want to claim they come from a place of love and then just can’t find the wherewithal to live up to that claim.
abnerbha
@Charlie in Charge: an adult taking part in homosexual/lesbian activities @least involves adults. But a teenager isn’t old enough. Did he think hes gay because of biology or was he a victim of homosexual sex abuse such as by priest which messed up his sexuality? I have thought about this & don’t think any1 can rebut conclusion that childhood sex abuse victims of gay/lesbian pedophiles have more risk of turning out gay/lesbian by copying the conduct they learned because conduct incl. sexual conduct can be learned.
Possible for people who are victims of same sex molestation (such as victims of gay pedophile priests) to copy this sexual conduct and do gay conduct in adulthood incl. turn out to be gay pedophiles. While I don’t think homosexuality by willing & knowing adults should be a crime, it’s best for gays/lesbians to be celibate just as it’s best for a person with tobacco orientation not to smoke. GID is worse & they must abolish sex changes.
AmericanSteam
@abnerbha: Can you be any dumber? Teens having sex is NOT new and teens coming out of the closet are (thankfully) going up and up. Your kind of statement is EXACTLY what they fear of from their parents, peers, and society. Please go sit in the corner and think about your life.