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Sex-Segregated Schools: Separate and Unequal
On May 19, 2008 the Women's Rights Project and the ACLU of Kentucky filed a lawsuit charging that segregating classes by sex in Breckinridge County Middle School is illegal and discriminatory. The lawsuit further charges that the U.S. Department of Education has violated the law by issuing federal regulations that encourage school districts to segregate students by sex. Learn more about A.N.A. v. United States Department of Education and the Women’s Rights Project’s other work on sex segregation at: www.aclu.org/
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> ACLU Represents Students In Challenge To Sex Segregation In Kentucky Public School (5/19/2008)
> Blog: It's Not a Choice, It's Inequality
> New Title IX Regulations Pose a Serious Threat to Civil Rights of Students

ACLU Represents Students In Challenge To Sex Segregation In Kentucky Public School (05/19/2008)
LOUISVILLE, KY - On behalf of five families, the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Kentucky filed an amended complaint in federal court today charging that segregating classes by sex in Breckinridge County Middle School is illegal and discriminatory. The ACLU's lawsuit expands a previous lawsuit filed by a private attorney against the Breckinridge County School District and other county entities to include the U.S. Department of Education.

Sex Segregation In Florida's Public Schools A Bad Move, Says ACLU (04/10/2008)
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida sent a letter to Governor Charlie Crist yesterday strongly urging that he veto the Legislature's flawed plan, which would open the door to segregating students by sex in Florida's public schools.

ACLU Requests Georgia School District Disclose Sex Segregation Plans (04/07/2008)
GREENSBORO, GA -In a letter sent today to the Greene County School District, the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Georgia requested that the school district make public any and all plans to segregate Greene County schools by sex. The request - made under Georgia's Open Records Act - includes all policies, memoranda, letters, emails, directives, minutes, handbooks, and all other documents in the school district's possession from the past two years addressing sex-segregation.

NYCLU Supports Young Bronx Mothers' Call for Adequate Services as City Closes Schools for Pregnant Students (06/08/2007)
NEW YORK - The New York Civil Liberties Union today stood in support of a coalition of Bronx young mothers in their demand that pregnant and parenting students be guaranteed adequate support services after the Department of Education's decision to close the city's "pregnancy schools."

New York City Fails to Meet Pregnant and Parenting Students' Needs, NYCLU Says (05/24/2007)
NEW YORK - The New York Civil Liberties Union today expressed concern that the New York City Department of Education's plan to close four public high schools for pregnant students is not accompanied by a plan to better meet the needs of pregnant and parenting teens citywide.

Boys' Brains v. Girls' Brains: What Sex Segregation Teaches Students (05/14/2008)

Sex-Segregated Schools: Just the Facts (05/14/2008)

Venus and Mars in Separate Classrooms? (06/01/2007)
Emily J. Martin, Deputy Director of the ACLU Women's Rights Project, discusses a growing trend in sex-segregated public education in the Spring 2007 issue of F.A.W.L. Journal, a publication of the Florida Association for Women Lawyers.

Letter to Harvard President Larry Summers (01/27/2005)
The Women's Rights Project joined with other organizations to call on Harvard President Larry Summers to rescind his recent statements that implied women's under representation in the math and sciences is due to innate differences.

Ask Sybil Liberty About Your Right to Equality in Education (12/31/1997)
ACLU's resident expert, Sybil Liberty, answers common questions about students' rights from a student point of view.

A.N.A. v. U.S. Department of Education - First Amended Complaint (05/19/2008)

Open Records Request - ACLU of Georgia Greene County School District (04/07/2008)

J.K. v. Arizona Board of Regents - Amicus Brief (03/03/2008)
On March 3, 2008, the ACLU Women’s Rights Project, joined by the ACLU of Arizona and six other leading women’s advocacy organizations, filed a brief as friends of the court in J.K. v. Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of a student who was raped in her dorm room by an Arizona State University (“ASU”) football player. The brief argues to the United States District Court for the District of Arizona that ASU is liable under Title IX for the rape and for the related discrimination suffered by the plaintiff, because ASU knew that the football player in question was a serial sexual harasser. ASU had expelled the harasser for severe sexual harassment of multiple women at ASU over the summer, and then weeks later arranged to re-admit him – with no supervision -- to ASU and to the ASU dorms where he raped the plaintiff a few months later.

Fitzgerald v. Barnstable - ACLU First Circuit Amicus Brief (03/23/2007)
This First Circuit case presented the question of whether a school district can be held liable for deliberate indifference to sexual harassment under Title IX when the sexual harassment does not recur after the school receives notice of it, because the victim’s parents have interceded and taken action that stops the harassment. Also at issue was whether the plaintiff can pursue sex discrimination claims under both Title IX and the Constitution (through section 1983). In March 2007, WRP and the ACLU of Massachusetts, on behalf of several local and national women’s rights organizations, filed an amicus brief for the appellants in this case , arguing that established civil rights law recognizes that schools deny girls and women equal opportunity when they show deliberate indifference to known harassment. The brief also argued that the Title IX claim does not preclude seeking a remedy under the Constitution. In October 2007, the First Circuit affirmed the trial court’s decision, finding that the defendants in this case responded reasonably to the reported harassment. The court also held that the availability of a remedy under Title IX precluded the plaintiff from also bringing an Equal Protection Clause claim by way of section 1983. On June 9, 2008 the Supreme Court granted cert in Fitzgerald on the question whether Title IX precludes the plaintiff's constitutional claims brought under section 1983.

Simpson v. University of Colorado - Amicus Brief (08/24/2006)
On August 24, 2006 the ACLU Women’s Rights Project and Racial Justice Program, joined by the ACLU of Colorado, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., Legal Momentum, the National Partnership for Women and Families, and many other leading civil rights and women’s rights organizations filed a brief as friends of the court in the matter of Simpson v. University of Colorado on behalf of the appellants Lisa Simpson and Anne Gilmore. Ms. Simpson and Ms. Gilmore were sexually assaulted by University of Colorado football players and recruits while they were students at the school. They sued the University for sexual harassment, but lost in the trial court. The ACLU brief argues that the University is liable under Title IX for the sexual assault of the appellants because the University was on notice of a pattern of sexual assault and harassment in the football program and acted with deliberate indifference to the ongoing culture of hostility and abuse of women. In September 2007 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit found for the appellants and reversed the trial court’s summary judgment. In December 2007 the University of Colorado settled the case and agreed to pay Lisa Simpson $2.5 million, hire a new counselor for the Office of Victim’s Assistance and appoint an independent, outside Title IX advisor.

Letter Urging Governor Crist to Veto Sex Segregation Law (04/10/2008)
On April 10, 2008 the ACLU of Florida and the ACLU Women's Rights Project sent a letter to Governor Crist of Florida, urging him to veto S.B. 242, which would amend state law to permit public schools to segregate students by sex.

ACLU of Michigan Statement on H.B. 4264 (06/14/2007)
Statement by the ACLU of Michigan regarding H.B. 4264, a bill on sex-segregated schools

ACLU Comments on Proposed Changes to Single-Sex Regulations (04/23/2004)
The ACLU's comments in opposition to the Department of Education's proposal to amend the regulations implementing Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.

ACLU Letter to the Department of Education on Single-Sex Proposed Regulations Comments (04/23/2004)

Letter (05/22/2003)

Sex-Segregated Schools: Just the Facts (05/19/2008)

Boys' Brains v Girls' Brains: What Sex Segregation Teaches Students (05/19/2008)

Clients in the ACLU's Title IX Work (06/21/2007)

What Can You Do to Promote Educational and Athletic Opportunity for Girls? (06/20/2007)

Sex Segregated Schools: Separate and Unequal (06/14/2007)

Boys' Brains vs. Girls' Brains: What Sex Segregation Teaches Students (02/28/2008)

Sex Segregated Schools: Just the Facts (02/28/2008)

Simpson v. University of Colorado (08/24/2006)
In August 2006, the WRP and the ACLU Racial Justice Program, joined by the ACLU of Colorado, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., Legal Momentum, the National Partnership for Women and Families and many other leading civil rights and women’s rights organizations filed a friend-of-the-court brief in this matter on behalf of the appellants Lisa Simpson and Anne Gilmore.