Sacked lesbian coach wins payout

Merry Stephens said she refused to let the school humiliate her

A US high school basketball coach who took a small-town team to championship glory has won almost $100,000 after being sacked for being a lesbian.

Merry Stephens, 39, coached the Lady Wildcats team in Bloomburg, east Texas, from 1999 to 2004, winning a string of awards and accolades.

But she quit coaching as a whispering campaign grew against her sexuality in the small, conservative town.

She fought school efforts to have her sacked but has now agreed a settlement.

Under pressure from the National Center for Lesbian Rights, the school district has agreed to pay off the remaining two years of Ms Stephens' teaching contract, at a cost of almost $100,000 (£53,000).

In return Ms Stephens has assured the Bloomburg Independent School District's governing board that she will not start fresh legal challenges.

Moral divisions

After her appointment as coach of the Lady Wildcats in 1999, Merry Stephens took the team to unprecedented heights.

I couldn't let them win just because they think it's their duty to rid the world of lesbians. Merry Stephens

With little over 250 students in the entire school from pre-school years to 18-year-olds, she steered the Lady Wildcats to district and regional championship titles, and in 2004 narrowly missed a shot at the Texas state crown.

She won a string of accolades for her success, but kept her sexuality a secret, worried she would lose her job if she told the truth.

But rumours that Coach Stephens was a lesbian spread around Bloomburg, a dusty town dominated by a paper mill and oil fields.

Although the Lady Wildcats stood by their coach, some of the players' parents did not.

"I had nothing against her as a person," oil company owner Craig Hale told the New York Times.

But standing up for one lesbian, he said, is a whisker away from supporting lesbian adoptions.

"My morals and the Bible doesn't allow that."

Legal fight

Ms Stephens eventually quit as basketball coach to concentrate on teaching.

But in December 2004 the board voted 4-3 to fire her, prompting a legal battle.

"The school board expected me to pack up and get out of Dodge," she told the New York Times.

"But I couldn't let them do that to me and humiliate me anymore. I couldn't let them win just because they think it's their duty to rid the world of lesbians."

With the help of the NCLR, Ms Stephens brought claims of harassment and homophobia against the school board.

"This settlement agreement sends a powerful message that discrimination will not be tolerated," said Shannon Minter, legal director of the NCLR.

"The days when schools could discriminate with impunity against lesbian and gay teachers and coaches are past."