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Attorneys argue for free-speech rights in Kentucky school district

A future ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit is expected to clarify the extent of free speech available to public students in the Boyd County (Kentucky) School District after students were instructed to withhold Christian viewpoints on homosexuality.

The instruction came in the form of a video that was part of school curriculum designed to teach students about "sexual diversity training." Boyd District's diversity training requirement began as a result of a settlement of a lawsuit filed by a high school Gay-Straight Alliance club against the district and did not include an opt-out provision on moral or religious grounds.

Alliance Defense Fund senior counsel Kevin Theriot says a suit was filed against the district in 2005, but a federal judge rejected both a preliminary injunction, based on religious free speech, and the right to opt out of the sessions, which was why an appeal was filed in 2006.

"Our concern at the appeal level was that students were not allowed to even share their faith -- their biblical views regarding homosexual behavior -- with another student if that student may perceive it as insulting," says Theriot. According to the attorney, even the American Civil Liberties Union agreed that the school went too far in placing restrictions on student speech.

Theriot and ADF attorneys argued against what they call the unconstitutionality of that policy, before a three-judge panel of the 6th Circuit last week. He also alleges that school officials have not been fully forthcoming about the district's existing opt-out procedure for parents who do not want their children in the sessions.