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Gay Teacher 'Pushed Out' Because Of Bias


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Gay Teacher 'Pushed Out' Because Of Bias

by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff

Posted: October 15, 2005 12:01 am ET

(Santa Clara, California) A man who says he was forced to resign as a teacher at a Northern California school because he is gay has filed suit against the Ravenswood School District.

The suit, filed in the Santa Clara County Superior Court, alleges that the district began discriminating against and harassing Emmit Hancock, after he revealed that he is gay.

The lawsuit also alleges that after Hancock complained of the discrimination and harassment, the district retaliated against him by undermining his authority in the classroom, barring him from performing his teaching duties and ultimately forcing him to resign.

The events at issue in the lawsuit began when some of Hancock's fifth grade students at Willow Oaks Elementary School began calling each other derogatory names like "fag," said his lawyer, Waukeen McCoy.

Hancock told the student that such names were "unkind and inappropriate".

The students then began asking Hancock if he is gay, according to McCoy.

Hancock responded that he was, a fact which the students promptly related to their parents.

Immediately after Hancock's disclosure that he is gay, the Willow Oaks principal and other district officials stripped Hancock of his responsibilities, the suit alleges.

One district employee, according to the court filings, told Hancock that his sexuality was "very immoral" and that she wished that she could fire him. She told him that if he did not resign, he would be re-assigned to another school where he would finish out the school year making photocopies.

"It is shocking that such blatant sexual orientation discrimination would be tolerated in a town so close to San Francisco," said McCoy.

©365Gay.com 2005

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