DETROIT, October 5, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Detroit Federal District Judge Gerald E. Rosen has ordered the Ann Arbor Public Schools to pay $102,738 in attorney fees and costs to the Thomas More Law Center because school officials in that Michigan community prevented student Betsy Hansen from expressing her religious views against homosexuality during her high school’s annual “Diversity Week” program. Robert Muise, the Law Center attorney handling the case, commented: “If the Ann Arbor Public School District wants to continue to promote the homosexual agenda at the expense of the rights of Christian students, then this will be the cost of doing business. This case should remind school officials that public schools are not a forum for their personal political agenda.”
During the 2002 “Diversity Week” program, Pioneer High School officials prevented Hansen from expressing her Roman Catholic view against homosexuality at a “Homosexuality and Religion” panel sponsored by the school, and also refused Hansen’s request to have a panel member who would express her Roman Catholic belief against homosexuality. Hansen objected to the fact that school officials had handpicked religious leaders who endorsed the school’s pro-homosexual agenda. In response, school officials claimed that Hansen’s religious view toward homosexuality was a “negative” message and would “water-down” the “positive” religious message that they wanted to convey-that homosexuality was consistent with Christianity and that homosexual behavior is not immoral or sinful.
Last December, Judge Rosen ruled that the school had violated Hansen’s constitutional right to freedom of speech and right to equal protection, as well as the Establishment Clause. The judge’s 70-page opinion in favor of the Christian student was highly critical of the action taken by the school to censor Hansen’s speech. The six-figure fee award is a result of that earlier decision. See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage: Judge Compares Censorship of Christian Student During Homosexuality Discussion to Actions of Nazi Germany https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2003/nov/03112606.html jhw