Officials at the Bangor Area School District continue to seek the dismissal of a lawsuit filed by the parents of a bisexual girl who alleges widespread anti-LGBT bullying within the district.
Tammy and Russell Bittenbender claim their daughter, S.B., had to transfer to another school in New Jersey because the harassment and sex discrimination was so pervasive at Bangor. They contend the district violated Title IX, a federal law banning sex discrimination in education.
But in a March 31 reply brief, district officials reiterated that the district shouldn’t be held liable for sex discrimination.
“[T]he totality of the allegations in the complaint may establish that S.B. was subject to general physical and verbal harassment, but the occasional and sporadic sexualized references are insufficient to establish severe and pervasive harassment because of sex,” the filing states.
The Bittenbenders complaint notes that S.B. was physically assaulted by classmates and verbally abused over the course of five years. She allegedly was called “lesbian,” “gay,” “whore,” “slut” and “fag.” But the district’s filing minimizes the alleged verbal abuse as “stray remarks,” which don’t establish severe and pervasive harassment, even if some of the remarks had a sexual connotation.
“[R]elevant case law overwhelmingly supports the supposition that schoolyard bullying does not become actionable under Title IX just because of the use of sexualized language,” the brief states. The school district also refutes the Bittenbenders’ claim that their daughter was discriminated against because she didn’t conform to gender norms.
The facts in the Bittenbenders’ complaint suggest that S.B. was abused because of her athletic success, not gender non-conformance, according to the school district.
“The only conclusion supported by the allegations in the complaint is [the Bittenbenders’] averment that S.B. feared for her safety because she knew that her bullies would attack her even more aggressively due to her [athletic] success,” the filing states.
Moreover, the district claims the Bittenbenders failed to report the alleged sex discrimination suffered by S.B. to an “appropriate person” within the school district.
For their part, the Bittenbenders maintain the district violated Title IX because school officials knew about the sex discrimination and didn’t take reasonable steps to end it.
The alleged discrimination caused S.B. to suffer depression, anxiety, sleep disturbances, social isolation, suicidal thoughts and other emotional harm, according to the Bittenbenders.
They are seeking more than $150,000 in damages and hope to present their case to a federal jury.
As of presstime, U.S. District Judge Lawrence F. Stengel hadn’t ruled on the school district’s request to dismiss the case.