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Students’ Civil Rights Project

  • Alabama School District Agrees to Adopt Critical LGBTQ Protections as Part of Settlement with Family of Nigel Shelby

    For Immediate Release: March 29, 2023 Media Contact: Lucy Sears, lsears@publicjustice.net HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA – The family of Nigel Shelby, a Black, openly gay teenager who died by suicide after experiencing severe, unchecked anti-gay harassment and race discrimination while attending Alabama’s Huntsville High School, reached a settlement with the Huntsville City Board of Education, concluding the federal…

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  • National Legal Advocacy Nonprofit Public Justice Joins Sanford Heisler Sharp as Co-Counsel in Title IX Lawsuit Against Harvard University

    For Immediate Release: March 13, 2023 NEW YORK and BOSTON — Sanford Heisler Sharp announced today that Public Justice is joining as co-counsel in its ongoing litigation against Harvard University and the President and Fellows of Harvard College. On February 8, 2022, Sanford Heisler Sharp filed a complaint in Massachusetts federal court alleging that Harvard…

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  • Illinois District Court Affirms Federal Civil Rights Protections for Independent Contractors, Allowing Title IX Case Against DePaul University to Proceed

    For Immediate Release January 10, 2023 Contact: Lucy Sears (240) 676-4499 | lsears@publicjustice.net ILLINOIS – On Monday, January 9, 2023, the Northern District of Illinois denied DePaul University’s motion to dismiss a Title IX retaliation case brought by Dr. Jenny Conviser, a sports psychologist, whose company Ascend, had provided mental health care to DePaul’s student…

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  • Major Win for Messa & Associates Attorney Laura E. Laughlin and Co-Counsel Adele Kimmel of Public Justice in Their Case Against North Penn School District Involving the Repeated Sexual Harassment of Student

        For Immediate Release October 24, 2022 Contact: Sarah King (215) 568-3500 | sking@messalaw.com The lawsuit filed in December 2020, Jane Doe v. North Penn School District, seeks to hold North Penn School District accountable for its failure to appropriately respond to the repeated sexual assaults of Jane Doe by a classmate and failure…

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  • Public Justice’s Statement in Response to the U.S. Department of Education’s Proposed Title IX Regulations

    We’re pleased to see that the U.S. Department of Education has finally released its proposed Title IX regulations. If adopted after the coming notice and comment period, these regulations would undo the Trump administration’s efforts to gut Title IX’s protections for student survivors of sexual harassment, and would also expand much-needed protections to other victims…

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  • Letter in Support of Catherine Lhamon to be Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights (OCR)

    Download PDF Dear Chairwoman Murray and Ranking Member Burr: We write on behalf of 48 gender justice, anti-violence, and women’s rights organizations unified in strong support of the confirmation of Catherine Lhamon as Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the United States Department of Education (ED). The Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights serves as the…

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  • Public Justice to Participate in Twitter Chat Supporting Trans and Nonbinary Youth

    It’s Pride Month and Rainbow Flags are visible everywhere. But 2021 is officially the worst year in recent history for anti-LGBTQ legislative attacks with more than 250 bills introduced or passed in statehouses around the country, according to the Human Rights Campaign. In the ongoing backlash against marriage equality, many of the bills target transgender…

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  • Open Letter Supporting the Full Inclusion of Transgender Students

    View PDF June 1, 2021 In Support of Full Inclusion for Transgender Students: An Open Letter from the Civil and Human Rights Community On behalf of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 220 national organizations to promote and protect the civil and human…

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  • GOP to Trans Youth: We Know You Better Than You Know Yourselves

    How institutional rejection harms transgender youth. By Adrienne Spiegel, Seneca Falls Fellow This story was originally posted by The Advocate. Legislation rejecting trans kids began to circulate in state houses this January. At the same time, online, sprung a meme: “Tell me you’re X without telling me you’re X.” To play, you announced a category you belonged…

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