EQUALITY IN THE COURTS: Supreme Court Denies Cert in Two LGBT-Related Cases

In this blog series, HRC attorneys discuss news and break down the legal theories in Supreme Court and federal court cases.  This post is from Mike Wilson, HRC’s new staff counsel for special projects:

On October 5, the Supreme Court denied certiorari (in other words, declined to hear the case) in two LGBT-related cases.  In Hudson Area Schools v. Patterson, the Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal of a Michigan school system that wanted the Court to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the parents of a student, referred to in court records as DP, who was subjected to years of sexual harassment at school.  Since the sixth grade, DP had been subjected to verbal and physical harassment by classmates who called him “gay,” “fag,” and “queer,” had written anti-gay slurs and offensive drawings on his books and locker, and had urinated on his clothes—culminating with DP being sexually assaulted by a student in a school locker room while another blocked his escape.

Although a lower court had sided with the school district, on appeal the Sixth Circuit ruled in favor of the Pattersons, stating that a school district cannot be “shielded from liability if that school district knows that its methods of response to harassment, though effective against an individual harasser, are ineffective against persistent harassment against a single student.”  The Sixth Circuit recognized that a school could potentially be found liable if it is ineffective in addressing the systemic sexual harassment of a student by his or her peers.   Denying certiorari is, in effect, the Supreme Court’s silent agreement with the Sixth Circuit. 

According to a recent study by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, 91% of LGBT middle school students report being verbally harassed and 39% report being physically assaulted at school because of their sexual orientation.  In addition, 72% report being verbally harassed and 24% report being physically assaulted because of their gender identity and expression.  We believe that the Sixth Circuit’s decision will encourage schools to be more proactive in protecting these and other students from anti-LGBT sexual harassment. As for the Pattersons, their case will now go to trial in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. 

In addition, the Supreme Court declined to hear a property dispute case between a Newport Beach parish and the Episcopal Church over the ownership of a local church building and other property.  In 2004, St. James Parish disaffiliated from the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles and the Episcopal Church in response to the Church’s decision in 2003 to consecrate openly-gay Gene Robinson of New Hampshire as a bishop.  After a protracted court battle, the California Supreme Court ruled that, even though the property had been in the local parish’s name, it had agreed to be bound by the national church’s governing documents, which provide that all church property is held in trust for and effectively belongs to the national church.

In denying certiorari, the California Supreme Court’s decision remains in effect.  It appears that St. James Parish expected this decision because it returned to state trial court in February for a full trial and has offered additional factual and legal arguments that had not been addressed on appeal.  It is expected that any decision from this trial will again be appealed all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, meaning that it could take several years before the case is finally resolved.