SC settles suit, agreeing not to enforce ‘discriminatory’ anti-LGBT sex ed law

South Carolina has settled a lawsuit alleging its sexual education laws in public schools discriminate against people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer.

The suit, filed in late February by a coalition of pro-LGBTQ groups, successfully sought to prevent the state from enforcing a 1988 law that prevents public school sex education classes from discussing same-sex relationships outside the context of sexually transmitted diseases.

The advocacy groups called the law “discriminatory” for singling out LGBTQ students, encouraging bullying and not providing any similar restrictions on sex ed for heterosexual students, the groups said in a release.

“I know how frustrating it can feel to be told by a teacher that they can’t talk about who you are,” Eli Bundy a high school junior in Charleston who leads the student organization Gender and Sexuality Alliance, said in the release. “I’m so grateful that no other South Carolina student will have to go through school feeling like they have been erased.”

The consent decree, signed by U.S. District Court Judge David Norton on Wednesday, March 11, prevents the state from enforcing this law and requires the S.C. Department of Education to notify schools of the policy change within 60 days, according to the consent order.

Department spokesman Ryan Brown said state officials would, within 60 days, be sending out guidance to school districts on how to adapt to the change in policy.

From the start, the suit seemed to have strong chances of success. On Feb. 18, S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson issued a formal opinion saying the law likely violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, which guarantees all citizens the same rights.

S.C. Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman agreed with Wilson that the law likely violated the U.S. Constitution, adding that her department did not create the policy but was required to enforce it.

“The lawsuit...highlights an issue that the General Assembly has failed to address,” Spearman said shortly after the suit was filed.

Those who sued the state to change the law were Gender and Sexuality Alliance, Campaign for Southern Equality, and South Carolina Equality Coalition. Those groups were represented by The National Center for Lesbian Rights, Lambda Legal, Womble Bond Dickinson, Brazil & Burke, and University of Utah professor Clifford Rosky.

This story was originally published March 11, 2020 at 12:48 PM.