District Policy Would Protect Gays in Schools : Discrimination: Trustees support proposal but strong opposition from religious groups is expected. It’s up for a final vote in two weeks.

A proposal introduced Tuesday to prohibit discrimination against students, teachers and administrators on the basis of sexual orientation received strong support from San Diego city school trustees.

But board members are prepared for a torrent of opposition from religious and other groups in two weeks when the proposed addition to the school district’s present non-discrimination policy comes up for a final vote. The introduction of the amendment Tuesday was not widely advertised.

“I urge you to stand firm. . . . This will not be easy,” teacher Peter Brown, a member of the human rights committee of the San Diego Teachers Assn., told trustees. Brown said gay and lesbian individuals have served honorably but not openly in schools, just as they have in the military.

“There have always been gays and lesbians in our schools--principals and teachers, students and staff, rich and poor, every ethnic, racial and national background,” he said.

Board member Ron Ottinger, who will take office next month, recounted a campaign incident in which he was asked whether, if elected, he would screen teachers and staff to prevent gay or lesbians from being employed and would prevent AIDS education programs.

“That’s the kind of hate that’s out there in the community,” Ottinger said. “I’m proud to join this board and take a strong stand against discrimination.

“I don’t want in the next four years to have any suicides among students because we didn’t give them all the help that we could have,” he said.

Arthur Smith, an openly gay teacher’s aide in the program at Whittier School for the deaf and hard of hearing, said the new policy could help lessen the “fear and hate (among people) of what they don’t understand.”

Smith, who publicly acknowledged his sexual orientation three years ago, described “the homophobia, the writings that come from ignorance” when his co-workers first learned of his decision.

Trustee Sue Braun urged Supt. Tom Payzant to draft a program, despite tight budgets, to help both students and teachers deal fairly with those who make their sexual orientation known.

And board member John DeBeck received assurances from Payzant that a similar policy will prohibit organizations from using school facilities at preferential rental rates if they discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation.

That policy, expected to be introduced next month, could force the district into a confrontation with the Boy Scouts of America in places where they use school sites for meetings. The Boy Scouts are embroiled in controversy over their policy of not allowing gay men to be troop leaders.