Source: Associated Press
ASHLAND, Ky. -- A federal appeals court yesterday tossed out one of several lawsuits challenging school policies related to gay-straight clubs or to the annual day of silence. One judge called the suit trivial.

Timothy Morrison, a senior at Boyd County High School, sued the the school district over a policy that required students to undergo anti-harassment training.

He claimed the policy threatened him with punishment for expressing religious beliefs in opposition to homosexuality. Morrison is a professed Christian who believes his religion requires him to speak out against what he sees as behavior that doesn't comport with his understanding of Christian morality.

Morrison was never punished under the policy, which was later changed to exempt speech that would normally be protected off campus.

The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 vote, said Morrison failed to show that he was harmed by the policy that was later changed.

Judge Deborah L. Cook, joined by Judge John R. Adams, also said Morrison didn't show how winning a lawsuit seeking only $1 in damages would rectify his situation. Judge Karen Nelson Moore dissented.

"This case should be over," Cook wrote. "Allowing it to proceed to determine the constitutionality of an abandoned policy -- in the hope of awarding the plaintiff a single dollar -- vindicates no interest and trivializes the important business of the federal courts."

Like several similar suits across the country, Morrison's suit was handled by Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian law group.

Sharon McGowan, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, which supported the Alliance Defense Fund in arguing that Morrison should be permitted to pursue his case, said the ACLU was disappointed by the decision.

The school district adopted the policy and established the anti-harassment training as part of a 2004 legal settlement that ended a lawsuit between the school district and a now-defunct gay-rights group that wanted recognition as an extracurricular group.

Members of the Boyd County High School Gay Straight Alliance argued that the school district violated their constitutional rights by refusing to allow them to meet on campus.

Full article: Court Tosses Suit Over School Speech  | Associated Press