A high-school newspaper covers LGBTQ+ issues and gets closed by the school district; ACLU files federal lawsuit

Marcus Pennell holds a June 2022 edition of the
Viking Saga. (Photo courtesy of Joshua Foo)

A high school in Nebraska is defending a federal lawsuit after it closed a school newspaper that reported on LGBTQ issues, reports Zach Wendling of The Grand Island Independent: "The American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska filed on behalf of the Nebraska High School Press Association and a former student journalist, Marcus Pennell. The lawsuit alleges violations of the rights to be free from viewpoint discrimination and retaliation and the right to receive information. . . . District officials shut down Grand Island Northwest High School's student newspaper, the Viking Saga, last June. One article in that month's edition, written by Pennell, addressed Florida's so-called 'Don't Say Gay' law, but other articles were unrelated."

While school officials "have stated the decision to shutter the paper days after the June edition went to print was unrelated to its content," Wendling writes, "public comments and internal emails suggest otherwise. . . . Zach Mader, vice president of the Northwest Public Schools Board of Education, told the Grand Island Independent last summer there was 'a little bit of hostility amongst some' to the paper. . . . 'There were editorials that were essentially, I guess what I would say, LGBTQ.'. . . Emails between Dan Leiser, school board president, to Superintendent Jeffrey Edwards were also included. . . Leiser said students should not be allowed to write opinion articles in a publication paid for by taxes because platforms such as Twitter, Facebook are available."

"Nebraska High School Press Association Executive Director Michelle Hassler said in a statement that litigation 'is not a step that we take lightly'," Wendling reports. "'Our involvement hopefully speaks to our level of concern about what happened at Grand Island Northwest and the implications for the students we serve. . . . Our mission is to support and advocate for Nebraska's high school media, and that's exactly what this case aims to do.'. . .  Hassler continued that student journalists have a right to learn and hone their skills consistent with the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution." Pennell told Wendling, "We have a right to be who we are and to write about our lives. I am hopeful that censorship is not the end of this story."