Update: Students at Champlin Park High School in Minneapolis cheered as two lesbian students who fought for the right to walk together as part of the school's royalty court entered hand in hand at the Snow Days Pep Fest Monday.
"It felt amazing," Desiree Shelton told the Associated Press. "I think we were too focused on getting to the stage" to notice the dozens of students who rose to their feet and applauded as they entered.
Read the full story hereand the previous story below.
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It took less than 24 hours for a federal judge to resolve a lawsuit filed by two lesbian teens who wanted to walk together in a processional at their high school pep-fest in Minnesota.
For Champlin Park High School’s Snow Days Pep-Fest, Sarah Lindstrom and Desiree Shelton (pictured from left) had been elected to the royalty court and were planning to walk together when the school district suddenly ushered in a new policy. Rather than allowing students to be paired as couples, the new decree had the teenagers walking with an adult companion.
The suit, filed Friday on behalf of Lindstrom and Shelton by the Southern Poverty Law Center, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and the law firm Faegre & Benson, was resolved the following day after a six-hour mediation before U.S. District Judge Susan Nelson in St. Paul. According to the settlement, members of the royalty court are permitted to “select a meaningful person in their life” to escort them in the processional.
The suit was dismissed without admissions of fault.
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