A Pennsylvania judge on Monday ruled
against a former graduate student who claims a professor retaliated
against her over her support of gay marriage.
Former Lehigh University graduate
student Megan Thode had asked Northampton County Judge Emil Giordano
to raise her C-plus grade to a B and had sought $1.3 million in
damages.
The grade, Thode said, prevented her
from becoming a licensed professional counselor. She alleged that
her support of gay marriage led to the bad grade when her professor
in a 2009 master's degree fieldwork class retaliated against her,
Lehigh's The
Morning Call reported.
Richard Orloski, Thode's attorney, had
asked Giordano to either reverse his earlier ruling against his
client or grant Thode a new trial. Giordano did neither, saying in a
brief order that he stood by his February ruling which found that
Thode had failed to show the university acted “arbitrarily and
capriciously” in giving her the bad grade.
Thode has not said whether she will
appeal the ruling.