Two local lawyers, Paula Rosenstein and Bridget J. Wilson, are not only the trial lawyers of the year, but because of their efforts, they have changed the way in which schools in California and elsewhere will treat gay and lesbian students. Paula and Bridget are genuine heroes in the struggle for GLBT civil rights.

A few weeks ago jurors found that Joseph “Joey” Ramelli and Megan Donovan, both 19, were subject to “severe and pervasive” harassment while students at Poway High School. Equally disheartening, jurors found that school officials knew or should have known about it, and that officials failed to take “immediate corrective action.” Jurors awarded $300,000 in damages for the students.

Wilson told jurors in her opening statements at the trial that her clients were verbally threatened. She said Ramelli was spit upon, punched and kicked, and that his car was vandalized. School officials took “minimal or no action at all” when the incidents were reported, Wilson said.

When Donovan and Ramelli complained, they were accused of exaggerating and fabricating events, Wilson told the jury.

When Bridget and Paula decided to represent Ramelli and Donovan two years ago, the case looked absolutely un-winnable. It’s safe to say that no other attorneys in San Diego would have touched this case.

Legally, Bridget and Paula knew that Poway school officials were in the wrong. When the students complained about the daily abuse, school officials didn’t do what they should have done. They should have reported the abuse to police and child protective agencies so that those agencies could investigate the incidents. After locating the abusers, the school should have removed them from the school environment. Instead, school officials merely offered to give the students schedules so that they wouldn’t have to “walk the halls” while other students were present.

What made this case so tough for Paula and Bridget was that many of us view Poway as a “progressive” high school, complete with openly gay and lesbian instructors, and a Gay-Straight Alliance. Ironically, last year I made Poway High my Pride honoree because of its efforts to prevent GLBT students and staff from harassment by students wearing T-shirts with anti-gay statements on them.

The second problem was that the school board decided to litigate the matter, obtaining the best education law firms in the country to represent it.

The third problem was that the nature of the case would require the two to litigate under a California statute (protecting gay kids) that no one else had really litigated before. Even worse, under federal law, the two would have to show that school officials didn’t do what was “reasonable,” and acted with “deliberate indifference” to the students’ complaints.

The fourth problem was one of cost. Recent high school graduates don’t have the funds to pay for court costs, which would amount to well over $20,000.

And there would be a bigger looming problem, one that I noticed when I attended the trial. When I saw the largely white male and conservative-appearing jurors, I suspected that if the students got any relief at all, it would be $1 in damages.

And that’s what’s so remarkable. This case was litigated over the course of the last two years – the trial alone last five weeks – and the jury deliberated for almost two weeks.

The jury made specific findings that several of the school officials acted with “deliberate indifference” in not doing more to identify those causing the abuse of the students.

The jury also found that the school officials didn’t take “immediate corrective measures,” as required by the California Education Code. This was important. Several years ago we celebrated when the California Legislature made “sexual orientation” a protected class for school students and staff.

Wilson said this was a case that needed to be tried. School officials, even well-meaning ones, needed to know that when GLBT students complain of abuse, they need to respond in a diligent manner and treat GLBT students like those in other protected classes.

Wilson and Rosenstein made their point.