Advocates expect
challenge to ban
on N.C. gay-straight
alliance
By AP from
fayettevillenc.com April 12, 2006
SALISBURY, N.C. Supporters of
a club for gay students and supportive heterosexuals at South Rowan High School
say they expect a legal challenge to the school board's decision to ban the club
and similar groups.
The county Board of Education voted unanimously Monday to "ban all sexually
oriented clubs -- gay, straight or otherwise -- and to address any student's
emotional issues concerning sexuality with guidance counselors."
Club supporters said Tuesday that the ban breaks the law and wouldn't survive a
legal fight.
"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 for gay, lesbian, bisexual
and transgender 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," Anderson said.
Students began trying to form the club at the start of this school year and
succeeded in February, after Principal Ron Turbyfill reversed his earlier
refusal to allow it.
Last month, the school board acknowledged that the alliance could form under
board policy that allows clubs so long as they are not disruptive. But it
made plans to revisit the issue in April.
The ban approved Monday included a clause that said sexually oriented clubs
"materially and substantially interfere with the orderly conduct of educational
activities in school."
Chairman Bryce Beard said he personally had nothing against the alliance, but
could not justify allowing a club that so many people oppose.
"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."
Information from: Salisbury Post.
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