‘That’s So Gay’ Girl Loses Lawsuit

By Anastacia Mott Austin

The Rice family of Santa Rosa, California, failed to win their discrimination suit today against their daughter’s school district. Kathy Rice and her husband Elden, who are Mormons, claimed that when their daughter Rebekah’s school reprimanded her for using the phrase, "That’s so gay," she was being discriminated against for her Mormon beliefs.

The incident that sparked the lawsuit allegedly occurred in 2002, when Rebekah was a freshman at Maria Carillo High School in Santa Rosa. She stated that several classmates were teasing her about her Mormon faith, to which she responded, "That’s so gay." The school reacted by ordering her to the principal’s office and putting a written reprimand in her school file. The school has a Diversity Club that seeks to educate its students about various lifestyle choices, including homosexuality.

The Rices filed a lawsuit in 2003 against the school district, the principal of the school, the assistant principal, and Rebekah’s teacher. The family claimed that the school overreacted because of Rebekah’s religion. The Mormon faith does not support homosexuality. In addition, the Rices say that Rebekah should have been given equal protection from her classmates’ comments on her religious faith. The family asked for an unspecified amount of compensation in the suit, as well as requesting that the written reprimand be removed from their daughter’s school file.

Today Sonoma County superior court judge Elaine Rushing ruled in favor of the school district in all of the family’s claims, saying they had not proven any violation of their daughter’s First Amendment rights or any other discrimination. The judge denied the family’s argument that their daughter had been singled out and was the only student given such discipline for using the offensive phrase. During hearings in February, school representatives stated that at least six other students had received similar disciplinary actions.

In a 20-page ruling, Judge Rushing wrote, "All of us have probably felt at some time that we were unfairly punished by a callous teacher, or picked on and teased by boorish and uncaring bullies. Unfortunately, this is part of what teenagers endure in becoming adults. The law, with all its majesty and might, is simply too crude and imprecise an instrument to satisfactorily soothe deeply hurt feelings."

The judge added that schools are protected under the specific law that the Rices based their suit on, and that under California stated education codes, school administrators are allowed a broad autonomy in terms of carrying out discrimination violations.

Rushing further noted that if the Rices had not pursued their lawsuit so publicly, their daughter would have endured far less trauma from the incident, writing, "If the Rice family had not told everyone that Rebekah had been given a referral for saying ‘That’s so gay,’ then no one else would have known it either, and she would not have been referred to as the ‘That’s so gay girl.’"