When Skye Wyatt, 21, was a high school student in Kilgore, Texas, she had a secret: She was a lesbian, dating a fellow student. Only 16, she hadn’t come out to her mom. So it was all the more painful when her softball coaches, who found out about the relationship (and were disdainful of it), took care of that for her. But in a surprise twist, their breech of trust led Wyatt’s mother, Barbara Wyatt, to sue the school for violating the girl’s right to privacy—and on Monday, six years later, the school settled for $77,000. National experts in LGBT rights are calling it a rare and encouraging outcome, with lawyer Jennifer Doan deeming it a “positive story” at the end of what was, for her client, “a horrific experience.”
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In the months and years that followed, Skye was harassed by classmates as a result of her outing. She also said in a sworn statement that she began cutting herself and had contemplated suicide. Her mother filed a complaint with the school, which held three levels of hearings; in 2010, Barbara filed a suit on her daughter’s behalf. By then, Doan explains, Texas state law had changed to include policies concerning privacy and communication between educators and students, and the Kilgore school district had quietly instituted a policy against anti-gay discrimination. Maintaining the policy and educating staffers about it is part of the settlement’s agreement. “This is exactly what we wanted,” she adds.
