No damages for student who said 'That's so gay'

http://www.cnn.com/2007/LAW/05/16/thats.so.gay.ap/index.html

SANTA ROSA, California (AP) -- A judge ruled Tuesday that a high school student who sued after being disciplined and then mercilessly teased for using the phrase "That's so gay" is not entitled to monetary damages.

Sonoma County Superior Court Judge Elaine Rushing said she sympathized with 18-year-old Rebekah Rice for the ridicule she experienced at Maria Carrillo High School. But, the judge said, Rice's lawyers failed to prove that school administrators had violated any state laws or singled the girl out for punishment.

"All of us have probably felt at some time that we were unfairly punished by a callous teacher, or picked on and teased by boorish and uncaring bullies," the judge wrote in a 20-page ruling. "Unfortunately, this is part of what teenagers endure in becoming adults."

The law "is simply too crude and imprecise an instrument to satisfactorily soothe deeply hurt feelings," Rushing said.

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