Went to GSA club at school today

[Trek234]

I went to my first meeting at the GSA club at my high school today. (gay straight alliance)

It's a new club that has had around 3 meetings so far. Apparently it has created some controversy as well.

This is not surprising as my school is zoned so it is largely upper class, white, and republican. (we have something like 8 african americans) Most peoples parents make over a million and some are even family to important repub elected officials.

Fortunately even with the above being the case, however, I would say a good 70% of people (students not parents) are socially liberal/moderate republican.

Of course there are a handful of "conservatives" who have problems with the club.

Some of them have created "CSA". "Conservative student alliance". It is (supposedly) for "conservative" people, but in actuality it is intended to attack the GSA club. i.e. They copy the GSA posters EXACTLY except they replace G with C and change meeting information.

One of the people in the GSA club went to the CSA meeting to see what it was about exactly. Apparently making gay jokes was on the agenda, and she confronted them about it. After that they didn't say another thing in that regard during the meeting. (typical)

There are a few other problems like people tearing down GSA posters. Also some people are worried the administration might end the club because some people don't like it. (could they legally do such a thing in Texas? It is a public school)

Apparently some people are making totally pathetic complaints such as "Why do you need a GSA club? What good is it?" "It only creates controversy" etc.

Today we talked politics. Specifically how people need to vote, and how we need a change in the occupant of the white house to make any progress in the gay rights area.

Well I hope everything goes ok. There are like 15-20 people in the club. (which is about half more than the “conservatives” have managed)

[LeftCoast]

1. Cool to hear about.

Are there any out students in the club? Wish there'd been something like that at my HS. Different times!

:hi:

[Trek234]

2. Yes

There are.

[dsc]

3. Great for you

A lot of older gays are a bit jealous of the atmosphere that is in many schools now but the fact is people llke you have done the leg work to make it possible. You have earned the atmosphere you have created.

As to what they can do. Provided they let any clubs meet they must let your club meet. There is a Supreme Court decision directly on point. You also must not violate school rules (ie showing r rated movies, smoking etc.). Otherwise you are untouchable.

[Guirigui]

4. Awesome!

To further expand on what dsc posted, the "Equal Access Act" is a federal law passed by Congress in 1984 to protect student groups in public secondary schools. A school will be covered under the act if:

1) it is a public secondary school;
2) it receives federal financial assistance; and
3) it has a "limited open forum."

A "limited open forum" is created when a school allows any (even just one) noncurriculum-related student group to meet on school premises during noninstructional time. Since your school allowed the "CSA" or Conservative Student Alliance" to form (clearly a "noncurriculum-related" club), my guess would be that your school would meet all three of the above and therefore falls under the "Equal Access Act", as do almost all public high schools (IIRC, there have been at least two public high schools that did not--they banned ALL noncurriculum related clubs and therefore no longer had a "limited open forum". When faced with an either all or none choice, schools have fortunately chosen to allow all.).

{So if the school meets all three conditions above}, the school must allow all such clubs equal access to school facilities, meeting rooms, etc. If a school uses the content of a group's purpose or discussions {as a reason to deny such group equal access}, or simply says that it is opposed to a group organized around a particular topic, it is violating the Equal Access Act.

In other words, your school's chapter of the GSA should be on safe legal footing.

Good Luck!



And the usual disclaimer: I am not a lawyer and nothing in this post shall be construed as legal advice, either implicit or explicit, blah, blah, blah . . .