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 Fired Lesbian Coach Loses Discrimination Case
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: December 6, 2007 - 5:00 pm ET
(Bangor, Maine) A high school girls softball
coach was not discriminated against when the school decided not to renew her for
another year a judge in Maine has ruled.
It was the first lawsuit alleging sexuality bias
under Maine's law barring discrimination against gays and lesbians in jobs,
housing and credit that was passed last year.
For 14 years Kelly Jo Cookson was the girls
softball coach at Brewer High School, in Brewer Maine.
She sued the school for discrimination alleging
that she was not renewed after she was outed by a fellow coach.
Cookson's suit also alleged that Brewer School
Department and Superintendent Daniel Lee slandered her when he told two parents
that he ``knew things about Kelly that I can't share publicly.''
She sought reinstatement, compensatory damages,
lost pay and attorney fees.
The school argued in court that Cookson, 45, was
not rehired because she had engaged in hazing of student players.
Cookson was named Penobscot Valley Conference
Class A Coach of the Year in 1995, 1996 and 2001.
But in 2005 she ran afoul of school board
officials for having students walk through a pasture containing manure during a
team cookout.
In a disciplinary letter Cookson was told the
students were exposed to infection or illness, and that the action could be
perceived as hazing.
A student and her parent had threatened to sue
Cookson and the school board over the manure incident and claimed the student
was verbally harassed.
In his 10-page ruling Justice Kevin Cuddy said
the evidence showed Cookson was not rehired because of "a pattern of
engaging in or supporting the hazing of the players, and in particular younger
players," not because she is a lesbian.
"The heart of this case has
nothing to do with whether [Cookson] was a successful coach in terms of her
win-loss record or whether she was an ‘excellent coach on the field,'"
Cuddy said in his ruling.
"This case turns on the
demonstrated evidence of [Cookson’s] poor judgment in permitting certain
conduct between team members; conduct which was and is inconsistent with the
policies of the Brewer School Department and the judgment of the
Superintendent."
Cuddy also ruled that Cookson had
not been slandered.
Cookson's attorney said he would appeal the
ruling.
©365Gay.com 2007
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