LOS ANGELES - East Bakersfield High School students will publish a series of articles about sexual orientation in the November edition of the award-winning school newspaper, The Kernal, editors announced today.

The articles will be published November 4 as a result of an ongoing lawsuit against the Kern High School District led by current editor-in-chief and East High senior Maria Krauter, former editor-in-chief and current Bakersfield College student Joel Paramo, several other students interviewed for the series, the ACLU of Southern California, the Gay-Straight Alliance Network and the law firm of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley and McCloy. The series was slated to run last May before school officials demanded it be censored at the eleventh hour, citing unsubstantiated threats to the students interviewed.

"I knew this day would come," said Krauter, who wrote one of the articles and planned and edited the other four in the series as a feature editor for the paper last academic year. "We had the support of our parents, the parents of those interviewed, the entire editorial staff, our journalism advisor and even the editorial board of the Bakersfield Californian. I'm glad students at East will finally get to read these important articles, even if it's a little late."

ACLU/SC staff attorney Christine P. Sun said publishing the articles, which included both the views of people supportive of gay and lesbian rights and the views of those who have religious objections to homosexuality, is long overdue.

"The principal was wrong to censor these well-researched, balanced articles about a topic that affects teenagers today," Sun said. "Not only were the threats the principal cited last spring unsubstantiated, but the law is clear that the principal may not just throw up his hands and resort to censorship when he is concerned about student safety. The right to free speech requires that the principal protect students who want to speak out about important issues, and not cede control of the campus to school bullies."

Students originally sought to publish the articles in the second to last edition of the paper last school year, but could not after the principal demanded the students pull the articles citing vague threats to gay students. The student journalists and their sources went to court seeking an order allowing them to publish the articles in the final edition of the paper.

The court denied the request, stating that more information about the district's reasons for censoring the articles was needed. Over the summer and fall school officials failed to produce evidence of their claims that lesbian and gay students would be harmed as a result of the publication of the articles. The lawsuit also revealed the principal took no steps to inform those students' parents or the police officer assigned to the school of the alleged threats. In October, the school relented and informed The Kernal editorial board members that the articles can be printed.

Janet Rangel, who graduated from East High last June and is a plaintiff in the lawsuit, was interviewed for the story with her mother.

"When our principal said the articles on sexual orientation could not be published in The Kernal it made me feel like I was back in the closet again, hiding," Rangel said. "I'm glad that because we didn't back down the articles will be printed. It's important for schools to be a place where students learn and feel comfortable. "

GSA Network Alliance Executive Director Carolyn Laub, whose group was a plaintiff in the case, added: "Finally, the voices of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth at East Bakersfield High are no longer being silenced. Now, other LGBT students will know they are not alone. This should be a wake-up call for school administrators that they need to conduct anti-bullying training in schools proactively, to prevent discrimination or bullying from happening in the first place."

After the articles are printed, the students will continue to seek a court order clarifying the duties of the school with respect to protecting student free speech rights, so that future student journalists will not be similarly censored and to ensure that the school district will seek effective methods to combat bullying on campus.

LOS ANGELES - The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down a state statute today that violated Californians' First Amendment rights after the ACLU of Southern California - along with ACLU offices in San Diego and San Francisco - filed suit.

"The case reaffirms the principle that the First Amendment doesn't play favorites. The core purpose of the amendment is to afford citizens a voice as to the performance of government," said ACLU/SC Legal Director Mark Rosenbaum, who argued the case in front of the court of appeals last year.

The decision came in the case of Darren David Chaker, a San Diego man who filed an abuse complaint against an El Cajon police officer who arrested him in 1996. Two years later, Chaker was convicted by a San Diego jury of a misdemeanor for knowingly filing a false allegation against an officer.

Circuit Court Judge Harry Pregerson wrote in his opinion for the three-judge panel: "Within the limited context of that investigation, Section 148.6 criminalizes knowingly false speech critical of peace officer conduct, but leaves unregulated knowingly false speech supportive of peace officer conduct. Because we conclude that the statute impermissibly discriminates on the basis of a speaker's viewpoint in violation of the First Amendment, we reverse the district court and grant the petition."

In April 2003, the ACLU filed an amicus brief with the U.S. District Court, one of the ACLU's ongoing challenges to the constitutionality of the state code. The district court held that the statute was unconstitutional, while the California Supreme Court held it constitutional in another case. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued its ruling this morning.

LOS ANGELES - Sixteen-year-old Joshua Goldman, a junior at Mira Costa High School, was allowed to distribute pro-peace leaflets at his high school today.

On behalf of the South Bay student and his parents, the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California sent a letter to the Manhattan Beach Unified School District last week demanding that school officials allow students to distribute counter military recruiting flyers without fear of punishment after Goldman was told he could not distribute leaflets without prior approval from school administrators.

"I was glad to have the chance to pass out leaflets right next to the military recruiters," Goldman said. "I wanted to do it originally because I thought passing out flyers would be a good way to let parents and students know the recruiters are on campus and get people to talk about it and that's what happened."

In a letter from the Manhattan Beach Unified School District, Superintendent Gwen Gross assured Goldman and his family that students do not need prior approval. She also said the district will conduct a faculty-wide training session on students' free speech rights on campus.

"We are very pleased at the school district's response," said Ranjana Natarajan, a staff attorney for the ACLU/SC. "California public school students enjoy broad free speech rights, including protection for distribution of printed materials. We are glad that Josh and other students will be allowed to freely distribute flyers and spark discussion and debate."

Goldman, who feeds the homeless every weekend with Food Not Bombs in Venice, hopes to study music or political science after graduating high school. He said military recruiters visit the high school about once a month and that a small percentage of his classmates serve in the military after high school. The majority of the 2,500-student school continue on to college.

Goldman and his mother contacted the ACLU after a meeting with the vice principal during which the school official told them Goldman would face punishment for distributing his flyers to classmates if he did not obtain prior approval.