Utah’s Top Court Sides with Lesbian Teacher
The
Advocate, April 5, 2003
The Utah supreme court said Friday that it would not
decide whether a lesbian Spanish Fork High School teacher is morally fit to
teach. Instead, that decision should be left to local and state education
officials. The ruling was a victory for Wendy Weaver, a lesbian teacher who
came under attack from parents and students at the conservative high school in
a heavily Mormon part of Utah. Teachers are required by Utah law to be moral
models for their students. The lawsuit alleged that Weaver couldn’t be a
good role model because her lifestyle conflicted with state laws prohibiting
sodomy.
Weaver, who now goes by her unmarried name, Wendy
Chandler, said the court’s ruling is a relief. “What they were going after
was not really within their right as citizens to do,” Weaver said. “I also
believe that they’re scared to have their kids see someone who is gay but
who functions and is happy and the like. That doesn’t go with their
perception that gay people are evil or unhealthy.” Weaver, a 1979 Brigham
Young University graduate, continues to teach at Spanish Fork High School
because her ex-husband, children, and partner’s children live nearby.
Utah’s American Civil Liberties Union represented
Weaver during oral arguments. “The parents and students said, ‘We’re
going to get rid of you, and we’re going to ignore the school board,”‘
said Dani Eyer, executive director of Utah’s ACLU. “You have to go through
the process. Nobody had a problem with Wendy professionally. The courts
aren’t the proper place to decide these cultural wars.” Parents and
students tried to remove Weaver from her teaching position by complaining to
the local school board, but the Nebo School District did not fire Weaver—an
award-winning 20-year psychology teacher. They pursued the case in the
state’s fourth district court, but Judge Ray Harding Jr. dismissed the
lawsuit in 1999.
Those seeking to oust Weaver then sought a declaration
from the state supreme court saying she was unfit to teach. The declaration
would have forced the school board to dismiss Weaver, attorney Matthew Hilton
argued to the court in October. However, the court declined. State law about
disciplining teachers “does not grant a private right of action to students
and parents of students to enforce statutory and regulatory requirements for
public school employees,” the court said.
“The students, former students, and parents of students
before us on appeal lack a legally protectable interest in this
controversy.” Disciplinary action and complaints must be handled by the
Professional Practices Advisory Commission, the disciplinary arm of the state
board of education, the court ruled. Any complaints against teachers “must
be taken before the only bodies authorized to act in this regard: the local
school district, the commission, or the State Board of Education,” the court
said.
ACLU cooperating attorney Stephen Clark argued for Weaver
before the court, and he praised her courage and longevity in the face of
years of complaints. Hilton was disappointed with the ruling, but he is
seeking clarification from the State Office of Education about the requirement
that teachers be good role models. The parents’ complaint had been on hold
pending the state supreme court ruling. “At least we’re entitled to have
the state office to tell us if we’re right or wrong,” Hilton said.
“I’m disappointed we weren’t able to get to the merits of the statutes
that were at issue, but I respect what the court has done.”
Carol Lear, attorney for the Utah Board of Education,
said that the commission likely would take up Hilton’s new request at its
regular monthly meeting on April 24. “I told him [four] years ago that the
information he presented me then wasn’t adequate to go forward with a
commission investigation,” Lear said. She said the commission could start an
investigation that could take at least two months. After that, the commission
could consider its investigator’s recommendations. Weaver would be involved
with any such actions, which would be confidential, Lear said.
Clark said pursuing the case against Weaver would be
fruitless. “All the plaintiffs will end up doing will be wasting more time
and taxpayers’ money on a moral crusade,” Clark said. “If they choose to
do that, it’s their right, but it’s not really going to get them
anywhere.”
Weaver disclosed her sexual orientation when asked by
curious students in 1997. Shortly thereafter, the high school barred her from
talking about her sexuality in or out of the classroom. Weaver later won a
federal civil rights lawsuit against the Nebo School District for that
requirement.
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