An Alpharetta High School student alleges in a recently filed lawsuit that he was forcefully removed from his student council position after advocating a change in the school’s “Prom King and Queen” tradition to be more inclusive of LGBT couples.
Reuben Lack, 18, says that two Alpharetta High School faculty advisors told him that he was being removed as the school’s student body president for “pushing personal projects.” In the complaint, filed March 20 in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Georgia, Lack contends he was removed over his “exercise of rights protected by the First Amendment.”
Fulton County Public Schools, which includes Alpharetta High, disputes the claim, arguing that the gay-inclusive prom policy is not why Lack was removed from office.
The attorney for the Alpharetta teen who's suing his high school over his removal from his position as the school's student body president says that his client's name is being “dragged through the mud” and accuses some students of Alpharetta High School of bullying his client on social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook.
In a statement released over the weekend, James Radford says that he and his client, Reuben Lack, may have been overwhelmed by the attention that Lack's lawsuit has generated. Lack alleges in his lawsuit that he was kicked off the council after he proposed making the school's prom gay inclusive.
The story may have gotten too big, too fast, and I believe the students, faculty, and administration at Alpharetta High School have found themselves overwhelmed. I know Reuben and his family have felt overwhelmed.