Suit claims girl discriminated against for her gay parents

June 10, 2011

two parents are filing a discrimination lawsuit against rio rancho public schools. the parents are in a same-sex marriage -- and they claim their daughter was harassed and abused at school because of it. jeff maher is live in the newsroom with the details. jeff. the two mothers legally married each other in iowa. their lawyer says last year when their 5th grade daughter was attending school, she was subjected to plenty of discrimination -- including from her own teacher. a 5th-grade girl at martin luther king elementary in rio rancho stood out from the rest of the kids. because she had two moms. attorney amelia nelson, who is representing the student and her parents, say one day on the playground the girl was thrown to the concrete by some bullies -- cutting her face and loosening her teeth. "following the incident however, her teacher told her from what we understand that it wa gross and that she should wash her face and had her comback into the classroom without sending her to a nurse." another time, nelson says as part of a class project, the student wrote a story about her two moms getting married. "at which time according to this young girl, the teacher said that it wadisgusting and that people didn't need to know about it, and she forced this child to revise the article that she had written" as part of the lawsuit, nelson says the female teacher also refused to shake hands with the girl's stepmother, and didn't allow her to take part in volunteer parent activities. we checked with rio rancho public schools -- officials with the school district are not commenting on the case right now. nelson says as far as she knows, there was no disciplinary action taken against girl's teacher. "it's a sad day when a little girl goes to school in a place where the teachers are there to help mold our future generations and that she's subjected to bullying and abuse" the girl and her two mothers have since moved from rio rancho to albuquerque. she now attends albuquerque public schools and is in sixth grade. the lawsuit will be filed tomorrow in district court