Softball coaches accused of outing E. Texas teenJOHN WRIGHT | Senior Political Writer | Posted on 15 Dec 2011 at 6:05pm
Trial set for January after federal judge rules privacy claim can move forward in courthttp://www.dallasvoice.com/softball-coaches-accused-outing-e-texas-teen-1096869.html
Skye WyattTYLER — Before Skye Wyatt's softball coaches outed her as a lesbian to her mother in 2009, she was a straight-A student who loved going to school, Wyatt alleges in court documents.But after coaches Rhonda Fletcher and Cassandra Newell locked Wyatt in a locker room on March 3, 2009 — where they allegedly threatened and interrogated her, before kicking her off the team and outing her to her mom — Wyatt said she became depressed and anxious.Last month, U.S. Magistrate Judge John Love, of the Eastern District of Texas, denied the defendants' motion for summary judgment in the case, which is now set for trial in January.
Krause said it marks the first time a court in the 5th U.S. Circuit — which covers Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas — has identified a constitutional right to privacy for sexual orientation information.
"It's one thing to say that conduct by LGBT people can't be criminalized under the Constitution," Krause said, referring to the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Lawrence v. Texas, which overturned the state's sodomy ban. "It's another to say there's an explicit constitutional right to have information about sexual orientation be kept confidential."
