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TOM WEBER: If you spend any time talking about important court cases for the LGBT community, you quickly hear the name Jamie Nabozny.

JAMIE NABOZNY: It's a bizarre feeling to know that I was part of something that had that significant of an effect.

TOM WEBER: Nabozny's story about the bullying he endured and the lawsuit he filed in the '90s against the Ashland, Wisconsin school district was documented in a film last year called Bullied.

JAMIE NABOZNY: While he was kicking me, the kid ended up saying that he would kill me if I said anything to anybody about what he'd done.

TOM WEBER: The film was made by the Southern Poverty Law Center, one of two groups suing the Anoka-Hennepin School District. The groups claim district leaders failed to address illegal harassment of current and former students who say they were targeted because they're gay or perceived to be. The district disputes that. Nabozny, who now lives in Minneapolis, says the precedent set in his case has been cited in lawsuits across the country, and Anoka-Hennepin should be no different.

JAMIE NABOZNY: It was the first time that said, ever, that kids have a right to be safe in schools, and that schools have a responsibility for that safety. And it seems ridiculous to think that schools didn't have that before. But it was the first time legally somebody said that. And it was said about a gay student.

TOM WEBER: Lawyer suing Anoka-Hennepin confirmed the Nabozny case will be in their arguments. They'll also likely turn to a 2003 California case called Flores versus Morgan Hill. That case marked the first court victory in a suit filed by multiple plaintiffs. That's key because six Anoka-Hennepin students are suing.

Shannon Minter helped argue the California case and is working the Anoka case, too. He's with the National Center for Lesbian Rights, the other group suing the district.

SHANNON MINTER: I am very confident that the courts will do what they've been doing all over the country, which is rule that school districts can't just sit back on their hands and let these students be brutalized every day at school.

TOM WEBER: However, the Nabozny and Morgan Hill cases did not explore a question the Anoka case will. Can a harassment claim force a district policy off the books? The previous claims argued those school districts had the right policies in place. Leaders just didn't use them to police the harassment.

The Anoka lawsuits asked the court to remove what's known as the neutrality policy, which requires teachers to remain neutral if the subject of sexual orientation comes up. Plaintiffs claim that policy should be dropped because it directly contributes to a hostile environment for gay students. The district counters that the neutrality policy only relates to curriculum matters and other policies police bullying and harassment.

Jeremy Tedesco is convinced the district will prevail here. He is legal counsel at the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian legal organization.

JEREMY TEDESCO: It's well-established in the law that public school districts have very broad discretion when it comes to curricular decisions.

TOM WEBER: Tedesco says a case about creationism that went before the Supreme Court in the '80s is relevant to Anoka-Hennepin. In that case, the court stated that quote, "states and local school boards are generally afforded considerable discretion in operating public schools." Tedesco also says it will be a challenge for plaintiffs to directly link harassment to the neutrality policy.

JEREMY TEDESCO: I don't think there's any connection between the two.

TOM WEBER: In cases where districts are held liable for not addressing harassment, legal observers say no one has ever studied whether the climate then changes in those schools. Jamie Nabozny says he's received antidotal evidence that things have improved in Ashland.

JAMIE NABOZNY: Two of the emails and Facebook messages that I've gotten that probably have made me feel the best are kids that went to school there and talk about what a great experience they had as an openly gay student.

TOM WEBER: For Nabozny, though, he's still waiting for one change. He left Ashland High before he graduated because the bullying was so bad. So he asked for a diploma as part of his legal settlement. That diploma was not included. Tom Weber, Minnesota Public Radio News.