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Defense of Cleveland, Georgia Gay-Straight Alliance

The ºìÐÓÊÓƵ of Hawai'i and the ºìÐÓÊÓƵ Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Rights Project represented three young people — a 17-year-old male-to-female transgender girl, an 18-year-old lesbian, and an 18-year-old boy perceived to be gay — in a federal civil rights lawsuit against Hawai'i Youth Correctional Facility (HYCF), the state's juvenile correctional facility. The plaintiffs said they were abused and harassed because of their sexual orientation and gender identity while at HYCF. The ºìÐÓÊÓƵ asked for a preliminary injunction to force HYCF to establish policies, procedures, and training to prevent further abuse of LGBT wards.

The ºìÐÓÊÓƵ filed a lawsuit in federal court against a high school that twice punished a student for wearing t-shirts expressing her support for gay rights. LaStaysha Myers, a heterosexual 15-year-old student at Webb City High School in Missouri, was twice sent home from school last November for wearing homemade t-shirts; first, one bearing several handwritten slogans such as "I support the gay rights!" and "Who are we to judge?" and the next day one that bore a rainbow and the Webster's dictionary definition of "gay": "M[e]rry, happy." Before censoring Myers, administrators routinely allowed students to wear shirts expressing other messages, including endorsements of the Bush and Kerry presidential campaigns, students' views on abortion, and religious messages.