High School Student Sues Softball Coaches And Texas School District For Forcibly Outing Her To Her Mother

Monday, attorneys with the Texas Civil Rights Project filed suit on behalf of Barbara Wyatt and her 17 year old daughter Skye in a federal court in Tyler, Texas, KLTV reporting that the suit is being brought against three Kilgore High School coaches – assistant softball coach Rhoda Fletcher, head softball coach Cassandra Newell, and assistant athletic director Douglas Duke – as well as the Kilgore Independent School District, attorney Nick Jackson saying that three coaches in question “blatantly disregarded” Skye Wyatt’s “constitutional privacy rights under the Fourteenth Amendment by intentionally disclosing” her sexual orientation to her mother. According to the suit, on March 2nd, 2009, Skye arrived at a softball practice and says the coaches dismissed the other players, but led her into an empty locker room, bolted the door behind them, and began interrogating her, threatening her, an accusing her of having an alleged affair with another female student. Mrs. Wyatt says that later the coaches called her at home later that day to discuss what had happened, and then asked if she was aware that Skye was gay. She replied no. Wednesday, Skye spoke with KLTV and said “It’s not something I would have wanted to her know, ever. It was especially hard for me to deal with, especially in the manner I had to.” Skye was forced to quit the team. They school district, which has yet to comment on the suit, initially, through teachers, falsely claimed they were required by law to notify parents of the sexual orientation of their children.