Young Women and The Scarlet Letter
Just learned that AOL became the eighth advertiser to pull their ads from Rush Limbaugh's show earlier this week in wake of the controversy over Limbaugh's characterization of Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke as a "slut" and a "prostitute."
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Shantelle Hicks, kicked out of middle school and then publicly humiliated at an assembly by the school director and another staff member because she was pregnant.
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THE DETAILS OF THIS CONTROVERSY have exploded all over the Internet and you have probably read many posts condemning Limbaugh and calling for a boycott of the companies that continue to advertise on his show.
In the firestorm of responses to Limbaugh's comments and the "apologies" he has issued in the wake of sponsors fleeing the show, I have been impressed by the AOL response, quoted above and the response from another former advertiser on the show, Carbonite's CEO David Friend:
"No one with daughters the age of Sandra Fluke, and I have two, could possibly abide the insult and abuse heaped upon this courageous and well-intentioned young lady. Mr. Limbaugh, with his highly personal attacks on Miss Fluke, overstepped any reasonable bounds of decency. Even though Mr. Limbaugh has now issued an apology, we have nonetheless decided to withdraw our advertising from his show. We hope that our action, along with the other advertisers who have already withdrawn their ads, will ultimately contribute to a more civilized public discourse."It is always brave to stand up against discrimination. For a big company like AOL, the CEO has many forces behind him -- all the lawyers he could ever need, employees, suppliers and so many others.
But what about a young person with few resources who chooses to fight a giant?
The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of New Mexico yesterday filed a lawsuit Tuesday on behalf of a young Ntive American woman in our community, 15-year-old Shantelle Hicks, after she was initially kicked out of middle school and then publicly humiliated at an assembly by the school director and another staff member because she was pregnant.
The complaint alleges that school administrators violated Hicks’ constitutional right to equal protection under the law, Title IX’s prohibitions against sex and pregnancy discrimination and violations of her right to privacy.
The story of what happened is sad, indeed.
Do you remember the story of the Scarlet Letter? In my junior high school years, my classmates and I read this 1850 romantic work of fiction placed in a historical setting, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Set in 17th-century Puritan Boston during the years 1642 to 1649, it tells the story of a man who conceives a daughter through an adulterous affair and struggles to create a new life of repentance and dignity. Throughout the book, Hawthorne explores themes of legalism, sin, and guilt.
It is almost impossible not to see comparisons between Hawthorne's character and this young teen, after you hear what took place when she decided she wanted to stay in school:
“It was so embarrassing to have all the other kids staring at me as I walked into the gymnasium,” said Hicks. “I didn’t want the whole school to know I was pregnant because it’s not their business, and it wasn’t right for my teachers to single me out.”
Hicks attends Wingate Elementary School, a Bureau of Indian Affairs boarding school just outside of Gallup, New Mexico and is currently in the eighth grade. She discovered she was pregnant approximately three weeks before the assembly, and she and her mother told the director of the middle school and two other staff members. They initially responded by kicking her out of school.
The ACLU of New Mexico sent a demand letter to the school, informing them that it is illegal to deny a student access to education because of pregnancy status. Wingate readmitted Hicks after four missed days of instruction.
Approximately two weeks later the director of the middle school and another staff member had Hicks stand before the entire middle school at an assembly and announced that she was pregnant. Until that point, no one other than Hicks’ sister knew that she was pregnant.
“Too often, pregnant students face significant barriers or outright discrimination in school,” said Galen Sherwin, staff attorney with the ACLU Women’s Rights Project. “Instead, schools should give pregnant and parenting students the support they need to help them succeed, for both themselves and for their children.”
“The ACLU’s lawsuit seeks damages and declaratory relief for violations of Hicks’ constitutional right to equal protection under the law and of Title IX prohibitions against sex and pregnancy discrimination in education.”
“We believe that Wingate intentionally humiliated Shantelle in retaliation for her refusal to leave the school,” said ACLU of New Mexico cooperating attorney Barry Klopfer.
“It is outrageous that educators would subject a young woman in their care to such cruelty. Adopting one’s moral convictions from the Scarlet Letter is completely inappropriate and fails to take into account a child’s educational needs.”
Lawyers on this case include Klopfer, Alexandra Freedman Smith, Laura Schauer Ives and Maureen Sanders of the ACLU of New Mexico; and Sherwin and Lenora Lapidus of the ACLU Women’s Rights Project.
More information about this case can be found at: www.aclu.org/womens-rights/hicks-v-edsitty-beach
