Consumer Law
School District Sued By Parents of Gay Teen Who Committed Suicide
Nearly two years after a teenager died by suicide after allegedly being bullied at his Alabama school, his family Tuesday filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the district.
Attorneys for the family of Nigel Shelby said school staff violated Title VI, which prohibits intentional discrimination on the basis of race, color and national origin, and Title IX, which prohibits public schools from ignoring harassment based on gender stereotyping.
The attorneys, civil rights lawyers Benjamin Crump and Jasmine Rand, said Shelby, 15, who was gay, had repeatedly reported being bullied at school and on social media but was told by Huntsville High School’s then-freshman principal Jo Stafford that being gay was a choice.
