Gay Club: Fairness, or a Wider Agenda?

* I was interested in reading Dana Parsons’ Nov. 28 column about the Gay-Straight Alliance club proposed for El Modena High School.

My daughter is one of the two students who have been forced to file a lawsuit to protect her civil rights. Please don’t call the students litigious. That refers to people who file lawsuits right and left at the drop of a hat. Believe me, that’s not the case here. This is a well-thought-out action.

Parsons holds the same misconception as many who just say, “Why can’t they meet off campus?” This is not just about a place to meet. When a club is authorized, members can advertise their meetings on campus, participate in school events and club days, and have events and fund-raising activities on campus.

It is also easier to meet on campus than trying to figure out a place to meet, especially for a club with more than 50 people interested in joining. This area is spread out and many students do not have transportation.

This is not a trivial issue. If the club had been treated the same as any nonacademic club, there would be no lawsuit. But the simple fact is that it is now almost three months since the request to meet was made, yet the board has made no decision.

Instead, the students keep getting put off, even though the law on the subject is very clear. Rather than just approving the club, as the law and the school district’s guidelines say should have been done, the school principal sought the opinion of the assistant superintendent, who took the coward’s way out and passed it to the board, which took the coward’s way out by not deciding.

The students were subjected to a horrendous public forum, with no legal basis whatsoever. At this forum, the students (more than just these two) were subjected to a graphic description of someone’s view of gay sex and comments on bestiality and pedophilia--this by the alleged Christians on the other side.

The school board, whose job it is to protect students and who were fully aware of the presence of the students, did nothing whatsoever to stop those comments in the presence of children.

At this forum, the students were told they were sinners and bad people. They have been made to feel as if there is something wrong with them. They have been treated in a discriminatory and harassing manner by the school board that is there to protect them.

In short, their civil rights have been violated and not by an ignorant board. They know full well what they are doing.

It is an issue of how the school board treats gay kids, if they treat them any differently from any other nonacademic club. Isn’t this blatant denial of their civil rights critical? If black students were treated this way, would that be trivial?

If it were the Christian students? How about journalism students from Nebraska? Where do we draw the line? When is discrimination trivial and when is it a critical issue?

I would discourage my daughter from going through the inevitable hassle of filing a lawsuit if I didn’t feel it was important.

For the record, we are perfectly willing to drop the lawsuit if the school board approves the club without restrictions.

JUDY ANDERSON

Orange

* Dana Parsons’ view on the gay club issue is dead wrong.

He should have done a little homework before attempting to “wing it.”

The cowardly act would be to cave in to the bullying threats of outside activists. I represent the parents of this district, and I promised to protect their rights as parents and also the welfare of all the children.

We have district policies that promote tolerance for all human beings and our sexual education curriculum advocates abstinence.

These children, who have been indoctrinated by the national organization the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, do not want a tolerance club. The agenda is much more than promoting tolerance.

LINDA DAVIS

Board member

Orange Unified School District