Lawsuit Dismissed After School Board Broadens Anti-Bullying Instruction

In Alameda, California, a group of parents dismissed their lawsuit against the Alameda Unified School District after the board of education agreed to a change one of the safe-schools anti-bullying and diversity lessons. According to a press release from Pacific Justice Institute, parents were seeking to have their young children excused from the class that focused on bullying of gays and lesbians. They argued that the anti-bullying focus on only one group was an attempt to teach young children that "the LGBT lifestyle is both moral and normative." A public records request showed that the vast majority of harassment complaints involved opposite sex and racial harassment and there had been no complaints during the past 18 months on bullying in the elementary grades due to sexual orientation. The schools agreed to change their anti-bullying curriculum to cover all categories-- gender, race, religion, nationality and disability.