Gay Teen Suing School Over Expulsion

Oct. 30 -- A gay high school senior says he was outed by a teacher, then kicked out of the Christian high school he attended in Jupiter, Fla.

Now the family of 18-year-old Jeffrey Woodard has filed a lawsuit against the school in Palm Beach County Circuit Court, claiming the school violated his privacy, disrupted his education, and have not been forthcoming about why it expelled him.

The incident happened on Aug. 15, while Woodard was attending Jupiter Christian School, according to the lawsuit. Woodard said a teacher pulled him out of class and assured him that their discussion would be "mostly confidential " — as long as the teen didn't say anything about bringing a weapon to school or causing anybody harm, statements that the teacher would have to report.

Rumors at School

Woodard says the teacher then asked him if he was gay.

"He said that rumor had it that I was gay and planning to come out in school," Woodard said. "I then admitted to him that I was gay myself, but I did not mention anything about coming out."

The teacher didn't tell him why he asked.

"I trusted that all the things said between us would be kept between me and him," Woodard said.

But he believes the teacher told supervisors, because the next thing Woodard knew, the dean of students called his mother and said that she needed to meet with school officials to discuss her son's sexual orientation.

Carol Gload had known already that her son was gay, but she was appalled that it had become the subject of a conversation with his teacher.

"I was shocked that this conversation was held without a parent present with him and I was shocked that they would have this conversation with him in the first place," she said.