Daytona Beach – For months, a circuit judge has ruled the University of Central Florida (UCF) Board of Trustees must turn over records relating to an anti-gay study of parents to John Becker, managing editor of The Bilerico Project, an LGBT news site.
Instead of complying with the judge’s order, UCF requested more time. When those delays ran out last month, UCF filed an appeal with the Fifth District Court of Appeals (DCA). The court granted a temporary injunction.
Now lawyers for Becker argue that UCF doesn’t have the right to appeal the initial decision. In a response filed Dec. 10, they asked the Fifth DCA to let the lower court’s decision stand.
The initial lawsuit, filed by attorneys Andrea Flynn Mogensen and Victor Lee Chapman in Orlando circuit court in April, is related to the New Family Structure Study published in the Social Science Research Journal (SSRJ).
The study, which says straight parents provide more stable homes than gay parents, has been widely-criticized by experts for its questionable methods.
UCF Sociology Professor James Wright is the editor of SSRJ. The study, conducted by University of Texas associate professor Mark Regenerus, was published in the June 2012 issue.
Court records show UCF initially tried to comply with the public records request made by Becker, releasing a flash drive with copies of 15,000 emails. UCF later argued 357 emails contained information exempt from public records law. The two parties came to a mutual agreement on those emails.
In early November, Circuit Judge Donald Grincewicz ruled that the symbiotic relationship between Wright-as-SSRJ editor and Wright-as-UCF professor led him to the conclusion that all the emails were public record.
UCF argued that because Wright has a separate contract with Elsevier, Inc., the private company that owns the scientific research journal, he was acting as a private citizen in his role as editor and not as an employee of the university.
Though Wright is a tenured professor at UCF, his work editing the journal is considered freelance by the school. The relationship has previously been deemed by UCF not to be a conflict of interest with his work at the university.
Since Judge Grincewicz ordered UCF to turn over its records to Becker, the case has been reassigned to Circuit Judge John Kest. Kest is awaiting a decision by the Fifth DCA on the appeal.
In court documents, Elsevier has said its peer review process is confidential and that information shared with Wright, as editor of the journal is significant, valuable and sensitive. Releasing it, would give competitors insight into the working of the journal and an unfair competitive advantage.
The UCF Board wants the appeals court to force Judge Kest to hold a new hearing on whether the documents requested by Becker are confidential. Becker’s lawyers argue UCF had plenty of time previously to argue its case. UCF is expected to file its response by Dec. 20.
