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 Federal Court Overturns Verdict In Lesbian
Discrimination Case
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: April 25, 2008 - 5:00 pm ET
(Cheyenne, Wyoming) A federal appeals court has
overturned a lower court verdict that found a school district had discriminated
against two former school administrators because they are lesbians.
The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver also
set aside $160,000 award the lower court had ordered the Sheridan County School District
to pay Kathleen Milligan-Hitt and Kathryn Roberts.
The 10th Circuit panel that heard the case said
that when the women's contracts were not extended in 2003 there were no explicit
protections for LGBT workers in the state.
As a result the women could not claim they were
victims of discrimination and therefore not entitled to monetary damages.
The women's attorney, Greg Hacker called the
appeals court ruling "unfortunate and unjust."
A lawyer for the school district said the ruling
affirmed the district's position that there wasn't any discrimination
against the two.
In 2003 Milligan-Hitt was a Sheridan junior high principal, and
Roberts a Sheridan middle school principal.
When the school district consolidated schools that year, the women and other
administrators had to reapply for five administrative jobs.
But Milligan-Hitt and Roberts were not rehired as administrators. Roberts was
eventually given a position of physical education teacher, which she later resigned.
In 2005, the women sued Sheridan County School
District, charging the school district violated their rights
of equal protection, freedom of association and privacy.
The women alleged that they lost their jobs after
parents complained that the women had been seen holding hands at a store in
Billings, Montana. They denied the incident, but said district Superintendent
Craig Dougherty confronted them angrily about it afterward.
In August of 2006, after about 5 1/2 hours of deliberation Friday, the jury awarded Roberts
$112,000 and Milligan-Hitt $48,000. The school district appealed to the 10th
Circuit.
©365Gay.com 2008
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