Gay school
official files suit in Chicago

Lambda Legal filed a discrimination complaint Wednesday against a suburban Chicago school district, saying a school official was fired because he was openly gay, the Associated Press reported Thursday.

Rich Mitchell, 42, was fired in November after two years as superintendent on a 4-2 vote from the school board. Lambda Legal staff attorney James Madigan argued in a statement that the board tried to prevent Mitchell from being hired because of his sexual orientation."[When] they failed to do that, they stopped him from doing his job--all at the expense of students of Bremen," the statement said.

Ray Hauser, an attorney representing Bremen High School District 228, said that Mitchell was fired for poor leadership, including showing a joke video that portrayed teachers as killers, strippers, and drug users, according to the AP. (The Advocate)