The ACLU/SC went to federal court to protect the rights of gay and lesbian high school students in Garden Grove. Charlene Nguon, a straight-A student in the top 5 percent of her class, was singled out for punishment after she hugged her girlfriend on campus. School administrators suspended her from school and outed her to her parents. She lost a chance at National Honor Society.

They then gave her an ultimatum: Either transfer to another school at the end of your junior year, or your girlfriend will have to. When Nguon moved miles away from her neighborhood Santiago High School, her grades slipped. Nguon graduated in June.

The lawsuit seeks to create new school policies that ensure equal treatment of lesbian and gay students.

During the first day of the trial former students testified that while public displays of affection are common at Santiago High School, what happened to Nguon was not. When the case was filed last December, Nguon said she couldn't understand why she was targeted. "We were singled out and disciplined just because we are two girls," she decided.

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO - A settlement agreement reached last night leaves the Capistrano Unified School District free to consider race when redrawing school attendance boundaries. The settlement affirms the importance of integration in public schools and the ability of school districts to take steps to avoid racially isolated schools.

A lawsuit filed in June 2005 had sought to overturn attendance boundaries for high schools adopted last year. The settlement leaves that plan intact.

'This settlement means Capistrano will not turn back the clock on school integration,' said Catherine Lhamon, ACLU/SC racial justice director. 'And it affirms that California law does not prevent school districts from considering race when drawing boundaries to reduce or avoid segregation.'

Orange County Superior Court Judge Gail Andler ruled in August that the school district's policy did not violate Proposition 209, the 1996 law about discrimination or preferences on the basis of race, gender, or ethnicity. In her opinion, Judge Andler stated that 'the mere 'consideration' or 'taking into account' of racial/ethnic composition does not necessarily seem to 'discriminate' or grant 'preferences' based on race.'

Under the settlement, the new school district policy will not mention race, but the district will not have to change any of its practices.

'I am happy the district can continue to work toward schools that bring students of all races and backgrounds together,' said Capistrano parent Geri Ditto.

'Capistrano parents and students have experienced the benefits of racial and ethnic diversity,' said LDF assistant counsel Anurima Bhargava. 'The combined effect of the judge's ruling and the settlement means racial and ethnic integration can remain a core principle in the district.'

A year ago Bakersfield high-school journalists and gay and lesbian students faced censorship over stories in their newspaper. Now a judge has approved a free-speech policy that will protect future student journalists tackling important topics.

"It shows student journalists still have the right to think about and explore more sensitive issues, such as homosexuality, in an in-depth, educational manner," former Kernal editor Maria Krauter told a Bakersfield newspaper.

Krauter and her Kernal colleagues were set to run a four-story spread about on-campus views of homosexuality in April 2005. But at the eleventh hour the school's principal pulled the stories, citing unnamed threats to gay and lesbian students.

The stories were eventually published in November 2005, but the ACLU/SC's lawsuit continued to win a new policy that requires administrators to consider alternatives before censoring students.

"From day one the students knew they had been wrongly censored and vowed to make sure this didn't happen to the next generation of Kern students," said ACLU/SC attorney Christine Sun, who represented the students. "Under this policy, the students would not have been censored in the first place."