By Camika Shelby When my son, Nigel, took his own life after being bullied and harassed at school simply because he had the courage to be himself, I was devastated. Nigel was full of light and full of joy. When that light was extinguished, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to go on. But all…
For Immediate Release: April 4, 2023 Plaintiffs Have Stated Claims for Deliberate Indifference to Sexual Harassment & Retaliation, Violations of Massachusetts Civil Rights Laws, Court Rules April 4, BOSTON – On March 31, 2023, Magistrate Judge Judith Dein of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts affirmed that the claims of…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…