South students can challenge gay club ban, group says

Here is the apologetic for the homosexual agenda from the Salisbury Post. This newspaper certainly does not reflect the views of the parents, grandparents, and kids of Rowan County.  Though it is purportedly a newspaper dedicated to truth, there is not much of that to be found in the article.  It is a blatant defense and promotion of homosexuality.  God help us! 

South students can challenge gay club ban, group says

By Kirsten Valle

Salisbury Post

South Rowan High School 's Gay-Straight Alliance should challenge the Board of Education's decision to ban it and similar clubs, some advocates said Tuesday.

Board members on Monday voted 7-0 to "ban all sexually oriented clubs — gay, straight or otherwise — and to address any student's emotional issues concerning sexuality with guidance counselors."

They did so on the basis that such clubs "materially and substantially interfere with the orderly conduct of educational activities in school," a clause that, if true, makes the ban acceptable under the federal Equal Access Act.

But proponents of the alliance say the ban violates that law and can be challenged — and overturned — in court.

"This is not the first time this has happened, and I think a lawsuit against the Board of Education is the way to challenge it," said Mette Anderson, executive director of Time Out Youth, a nonprofit organization that provides support, advocacy and education to gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and questioning youth in the Charlotte area.

"There has not ever been a case where a court has upheld" a school board's decision to ban a gay-straight alliance. "It is and always will be against the law."

Alex Wagaman, the program director of Charlotte's Conference for Community and Justice, which has helped members of South's alliance explore their legal options, said the school board's decision "obviously violated" students' rights.

"We're incredibly disappointed and a little surprised that (the board) chose to go against the law," she said. "We will support the students or parents in whatever they decide to do.

"We will be not at all surprised if someone decides to bring this to the next level."

Wagaman said club members were exploring their options and hadn't decided, as of Tuesday afternoon, whether they would challenge the ban in court.

"It depends on what's the right decision for them," she said. "(The issue) has raised a lot of emotion in the community."

Still, she said, "A lot of students and parents have filed suits and have won. It's not a new thing."

The Equal Access Act of 1984 says schools that allow any noncurricular groups must allow all groups to exist.

The law was originally intended to make sure religious groups could meet in school. It does not specifically address sexually oriented groups, but courts have applied it to all noncurricular student groups.

While the Rowan-Salisbury board's clause about South's alliance causing disruption — added at the suggestion of attorney Don Sayers — seems to provide a legal loophole in the Equal Access Act, some are saying it won't be enough to uphold the ban.

"This is a specious argument, and one that will not hold up in court," wrote Dave Parker, president of Guilford County 's chapter of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, in an e-mail to the Post.

Several gay-straight alliances exist in Guilford County, he wrote, adding that "a discussion with the school board here ... would quickly find that GSAs here have not 'materially and substantially interfered with the orderly conduct of educational activities in school.'"

Still, Rowan-Salisbury's school board has to reflect its community's wishes, Chairman Bryce Beard said.

"For the board to have approved that, it would give it a legitimacy," he said. "... We listen to the community and the community doesn't want that in South Rowan."

Beard said there were compelling arguments on both sides of the issue, and while he has nothing against alliance members or homosexuals in general, he could not justify allowing a club that so many people oppose.

He said he hoped alliance members would not take the issue to court, but that if it came to that, he and other board members would probably be prepared to fight.

"I'm going to side with the community," he said. "I can't vote 60-40. I've got to vote one way and that's to support the community I was elected to serve."

The board might have a difficult time if the case goes to court, though, as courts across the country have ordered school boards to allow gay-straight alliances to exist.

In the 2003 case Boyd County (Ky.) High School Gay-Straight Alliance v. Boyd County Board of Education, a federal judge said public protests did not justify shutting down students' expressive activity, which was not disruptive by itself.

The American Civil Liberties Union also filed a lawsuit in federal court this year against school officials in White County, Ga., who, it argued, illegally banned a gay-straight alliance by allowing other noncurricular groups to meet.

According to a document distributed by national educators' organizations that explains the legal issues surrounding students' sexual orientation, a school district has been successful just once in invoking an Equal Access Act exception based on the "interference with orderly conduct" argument.

But in that case, the court noted, the gay-straight alliance would have discussed safe sex in a school with an abstinence-only sex-education program.

In addition, its Web site linked to others with explicit content, and the school served students as young as 12.

The same document says a school cannot refuse to allow a group to meet because students, teachers, administrators, parents or community members object to it, and, "while schools may properly address disruption by GSA opponents, courts have not allowed districts to use this section of the EAA to prohibit LGBT-related clubs because of negative community sentiment or other potentially disruptive responses."

Wagaman, the Conference for Community and Justice director, said about five gay-straight alliances exist in Mecklenburg County. While those groups have encountered some opposition from the community, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board "understands the law" and has allowed them to meet, she said.

Anderson, the Time Out Youth director, said the Rowan-Salisbury board should follow that example.

Homophobia is widespread in Rowan County and evident even in the language the board used to describe South's gay-straight alliance, she said.

"To refer to a GSA as sexually oriented is embarrassing," she said. "That is clearly homophobia. It's the fear of something they don't understand. ... Every student has a right to safety in school.

"And who needs a GSA more than Salisbury?"

Contact Kirsten Valle at 704-797-7683 or kvalle@salisburypost.com